■ 


OUTLINES 


OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  DOGMA 


BY 

Dr.   ADOLF   HARNACK 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  the  University  of  Berlin 


TRANSLATED   BY 

EDWIN  KNOX  MITCHELL,  M.A. 

Professor  of  Grceco-Roman  and  Eastern  Church  History  in 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary 


NEW    YORK 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS   COMPANY 
LONDON   and    TORONTO 

1893 
Printed  in  the  United  States 


/ 


. 


Copyright,  1893,  by  the 
FUNK   &  WAGNALLS   COMPANY 


[Registered  at  Stationers'1  Hall,  London,  Eng.  ] 


*fe       •  Hai 

PREFACE.      '  ^ 


THE  English  translation  of  my  "Grundriss 
der  Dogmengeschichte"  has  been  made, 
in  accordance  with  my  expressed  wish,  by  my 
former  pupil  and  esteemed  friend,  Mr.  Edwin 
Knox  Mitchell.  It  is  my  pleasant  duty  to  ex- 
press to  him  here  my  heartiest  thanks. 

English  and  American  theological  literature 
possess  excellent  works,  but  they  are  not  rich 
in  products  within  the  realm  of  the  History  of 
Dogma.  I  may  therefore  perhaps  hope  that 
my  "Grundriss"  will  supply  a  want.  I  shall 
be  most  happy,  if  I  can  with  this  book  do  my 
English  and  American  friends  and  fellow-work- 
ers some  service — a  small  return  for  the  rich 
benefit  which  I  have  reaped  from  their  labors. 
In  reality,  however,  there  no  longer  exists  any 
distinction  between  German  and  English  theo- 
logical science.  The  exchange  is  now  so  brisk 
that  scientific  theologians  of  all  evangelical 
lands  form  already  one  Concilium. 

Adolf  Harnack. 

Wilmersdorf  near  Berlin, 
March  17th,  1892, 


* 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Prolegomena  to  the  Discipline 1 

I.  Idea  and  Aim  of  the  History  of  Dogma        .         .  1 

II.  Narrative  of  the  History  of  Dogma      ...  8 

Presuppositions  of  the  History  of  Dogma  ....  10 

III.  Introductory 10 

IV.  The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  according  to  His  Own 
Testimony 1£ 

V.  The    General    Proclamation    concerning    Jesus 
Christ  in  the  First  Generation  of  His  Adherents      .     18 
VI.  The  Current  Exposition  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  Jewish  Future  Hope,  in  their  Bearing  on  the 
Earliest  Formulation  of  the  Christian  Message         .     23 
VII.  The    Religious    Conceptions  and  the    Religious 
Philosophy  of  the  Hellenistic  Jews  in  their  Bear- 
ing on  the  Transformation  of  the  Gospel  Message    .     28 
VIII.  The  Religious  Disposition  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans in  the  First  Two  Centuries  and  the  Contem- 
porary Greeco-Roman  Philosophy  of  Religion  .        .     32 


PAKT   I. 

THE  RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOGMA. 
Book  I. 

THE  PREPARATION. 

Chapter  I. — Historical  Survey 39 

Chapter  II.— Ground  Common  to  Christians  and  Attitude 

Taken  toward  Judaism 40 

Chapter  III.— The  Common  Faith  and  the  Beginnings  of 
Self- Recognition  in  that  Gentile  Christianity 
which  was  to  Develop  into  Catholicism       .         .     43 


) 


vili  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter  IV. — Attempt  of  the  Gnostics  to  Construct  an 
Apostolic  Doctrine  of  Faith  and  to  Produce  a 
Christian  Theology  ;  or,  the  Acute  Secularization 
of  Christianity 58 

Chapter  V. — Marcion's  Attempt  to  Set  Aside  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  the  Foundation  of  the  Gospel,  to  Purify 
Tradition,  and  to  Reform  Christianity  on  the 
Basis  of  the  Pauline  Gospel 70 

Chapter  VI.  —Supplement :  The  Christianity  of  the  Jewish 

Christians 74 

Book  II. 

THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION. 

Chapter  I. — Historical  Survey 81 

Section  I.     Establishment  of  Christianity  as  a  Church  and 
its  Gradual  Secidarization. 

Chapter  II.  —The  Setting  Forth  of  the  Apostolic  Rules 
(Norms)  for  Ecclesiastical  Christianity.  The 
Catholic  Church 84 

A.  The  Recasting  of  the  Baptismal  Confession  into 

the  Apostolic  Rule  of  Faith 85 

B.  The  Recognition   of  a  Selection  of  Well-known 

Scriptures  as  Virtually  Belonging  to  the  Old 
Testament ;  i.  e. ,  as  a  Compilation  of  Apostolic 
Scriptures 88 

C.  The  Transformation  of  the  Episcopal  Office  in  the 

Church  into  the  Apostolic  Office.     History  of  the 
Transformation  of  the  Idea  of  the  Church     .         .     95 
Chapter  III. — Continuation:    The  Old  Christianity  and 

the  New  Church 100 

Section  II.     Establishment  of  Christianity  as  Doctrine  and 
its  Gradual  Secidarization. 

Chapter  IV. — Ecclesiastical  Christianity  and  Philosophy. 

The  Apologists  , 117 

Chapter  V. — Beginnings  of  an  Ecclesiastico-Theological 
Exposition  and  Revision  of  the  Rule  of  Faith  in 
Opposition  to  Gnosticism  on  the  Presupposition  of 
the  New  Testament  and  the  Christian  Philosophy 
of  the  Apologists  :  Irenaaus,  Tertullian,  Hippoly- 
tus,  Cyprian,  Novatian 130 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PACE 

Chapter  VI.  — Transformation  of  Ecclesiastical  Tradition 
into  a  Philosophy  of  Religion,  or  the  Origin  of 
Scientific  Ecclesiastical  Theology  and  Dogmatics : 
Clement  and  Origen 149 

Chapter  VII.  — Decisive  Result  of  Theological  Speculation 
within  the  Realm  of  the  Rule  of  Faith,  or  the  Defin- 
ing of  the  Ecclesiastical  Doctrinal  Norm  through 
the  Acceptance  of  the  Logos- Christology       .        .  166 


PART   II. 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   ECCLESIASTICAL   DOGMA. 

Book  I. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOGMA  AS  DOCTRINE  OF  THE 
GOD-MAN  UPON  THE  BASIS  OF  NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 

Chapter  I. — Historical  Survey 193 

Chapter  IL— The  Fundamental  Conception  of  Salvation 

and  a  General  Sketch  of  the  Doctrine  of  Faith      .   206 
Chapter  HI. — The  Sources  of  Knowledge  and  the  Authori- 
ties, or  Scripture,  Tradition,  and  the  Church       .  212 

A.  TJie  Presuppositions  of  the  Doctrine  of  Salvation,  or  Nat- 

ural  TJieology. 

Chapter  IV. — The    Presuppositions    and    Conceptions    of 

God,  the  Creator,  as  the  Dispenser  of  Salvation    .  225 

Chapter  V. — The  Presuppositions  and  Conceptions  of  Man 

as  the  Recipient  of  Salvation         ....  229 

B.  The  Doctrine  of  Redemption   through  the  Person  of  the 

God-Man  in  its  Historical  Development. 

Chapter  VI.— The  Doctrine  of  the  Necessity  and  Reality  of 
Redemption  through  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son 

of  God 235 

Chapter  VII.— The  Doctrine  of  the  Homousion  of  the  Son 

of  God  with  God  Himself 242 

I.  Until  Council  of  Nicsea  .....  242 

II.  Until  Death  of  Constantius 253 

III.  Until  Councils  of  Constantinople,  381,  383  .         .  259 
Supplement :   The  Doctrine   of   the   Holy  Spirit 
and  of  the  Trinity 266 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter  VIII. — The    Doctrine    of    the    Perfect    Equality 
as  to  Nature  of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God  and 

Humanity 274 

Chapter  IX. — Continuation  :  The  Doctrine  of  the  Personal 
Union  of  the  Divine  and  Human  Natures  in  the 

Incarnate  Son  of  God 280 

*  I.  The  Nestorian  Controversy 280 

^  II.  The  Eutychian  Controversy 287 

III.  The     Monophysite    Controversies    and    the    5th 
Council 294 

IV.  The  Monergistic  and  Monothelitic  Controversies, 
the  6th  Council  and  John  of  Damascus  .         .  300 

C.     TJie  Temporal  Enjoyment  of  Redemption. 

Chapter  X. — The  Mysteries,  and  Matters  Akin  to  Them      .  305 
Chapter  XI. — Conclusion  :  Sketch  of.  the  Historic  Begin- 
nings of  the  Orthodox  System        ....  318 


Book  II. 

EXPANSION  AND  RECASTING  OF  THE  DOGMA  INTO  A  DOCTRINE 

CONCERNING  SIN,  GRACE  AND  THE  MEANS  OF  GRACE 

UPON  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Chapter  I. — Historical  Survey 326 

Chapter  II. — Occidental  Christianity  and  Occidental  The- 
ologians before  Augustine 329 

Chapter  HI. — The  World-Historical  Position  of  Augustine 

as  Reformer  of  Christian  Piety      ....  335 

Chapter  IV. — The  World-Historical  Position   of   Augus- 
tine as  Teacher  of  the  Church        ....  342 
I.  Augustine's  Doctrine  of  the  First  and  Last  Things  345 
II.  The  Donatist  Contest.      The  Work  "  De  Civitate 
Dei. "    The  Doctrine  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
Means  of  Grace 354 

III.  The  Pelagian  Contest.      Doctrine  of  Grace  and 

of  Sin 363 

IV.  Augustine's    Exposition    of    the    Symbol.      The 
New  Doctrine  of  Religion 376 

Chapter  V. — History  of  Dogma  in  the  Occident  till  the 

Beginning  of  the  Middle  Ages  (430-604)        .        .  382 


387 

392 
394 
395 


407 
412 
414 
422 
423 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PAGE 

I.  Contest  between  Semi-Pelagianism  and  Augustini 

anism 

II.  Gregory  the  Great  (590-604)     . 
Chapter  VI. — History  of  Dogma  in  the  Time  of  the  Carlo 

vingian  Renaissance 

I.  A.  The  Adoption  Controversy 

I.  B.  The  Predestination  Controversy 

II.  Controversy  about  the  Filioque  and  about  Images  397 

III.  The  Development,  in  Practice  and  in  Theory,  of 
the  Mass  (Dogma  of  the  Eucharist)  and  of  Penance  399 

Chapter  VII. — History  of  Dogma  in  the  Time  of  Clugny, 
Anselm    and    Bernard  to  the    End  of  the  12th 

Century .406 

I.  The  Revival  of  Piety 
II.   On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Law 

III.  The  Revival  of  Science    . 

IV.  Work  upon  the  Dogma    . 

A.  The  Berengar  Controversy  . 

B.  Anselm 's  Doctrine  of  Satisfaction  and  the  Doc- 
trines of  the  Atonement  of  the  Theologians  of  the 
12th  Century 427 

Chapter  VIII. — History  of  Dogma  in  the  Time  of  the  Men- 
dicant   Orders   till  the    Beginning  of    the   16th 

Century 433 

I.  On  the  History  of  Piety 434 

II.  On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Law.     The  Doc- 
trine of  the  Church 442 

III.  On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Science  .         .  452 

IV.  The  Reminting  of  Dogmatics  into  Scholastics  .  461 

A.  The  Working  Over  of  the  Traditional  Articuli 
Fidei 462 

B.  The  Scholastic  Doctrine  of  the  Sacraments  .         .  468 

C.  The  Revising  of  Augustinianism  in  the  Direction 

of  the  Doctrine  of  Meritorious  Works   .        .        .  488 

Book  III. 

THE  THREE-FOLD  ISSUING   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Chapter  I. — Historical  Survey 501 

Chapter  II. — The   Issuing  of  the  Dogma  in  Roman   Ca- 
tholicism         510 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I.  Codification  of  the  Mediaeval  Doctrines  in  Opposi- 
tion to  Protestantism  (Tridentine  Decrees)    .         .  510 
II.  Post-Tridentine  Development  as  a  Preparation  for 

the  Vatican  Council 518 

III.  The  Vatican  Council 527 

Chapter  III. — The  Issuing  of  the  Dogma  in  Anti-Trinita- 

rianism  and  Socinianism 529 

I.  Historical  Introduction 529 

II.  The  Socinian  Doctrine 535 

Chapter  IV.  — The  Issuing  of  the  Dogma  in  Protestantism  541 

I.  Introduction 541 

II.  Luther's  Christianity 545 

III.  Luther's   Strictures  on  the   Dominating    Ecclesi- 

astical Tradition  and  on  the  Dogma      .         .         .  551 

IV.  The  Catholic  Elements  Retained  with  and  within 

Luther's  Christianity 557 


OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


PROLEGOMENA   TO   THE   DISCIPLINE. 
I. — Idea  and  Aim  of  the  History  of  Dogma. 

1.  Religion  is  a  practical  affair  with  mankind,    Religion, 
since  it  has  to  do  with  our  highest  happiness  and 

with  those  faculties  which  pertain  to  a  holy  life. 
But  in  every  religion  these  faculties  are  closely  con- 
nected with  some  definite  faith  or  with  some  defi- 
nite cult,  which  are  referred  back  to  Divine  Reve- 
lation. Christianity  is  that  religion  in  which  the 
impulse  and  power  to  a  blessed  and  holy  life  is  bound 
up  with  faith  in  God  as  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ. 
So  far  as  this  God  is  believed  to  be  the  omnipotent 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  Christian  religion 
includes  a  particular  knowledge  of  God,  of  the  world 
and  of  the  purpose  of  created  things ;  so  far,  how- 
ever, as  this  religion  teaches  that  God  can  be  truly 
known  only  in  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  inseparable  from 
historical  knowledge. 

2.  The   inclination  to   formulate    the   content  of  ArFaith.°f 
religion  in  Articles  of  Faith  is  as  natural  to  Chris- 
tianity as  the  effort   to   verify  these  articles  with 
reference  to  science  and  to  history.     On  the  other 


2 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Problem 
Insoluble. 


Attempts 
at       Solu- 
tion. 


hand  the  universal  and  supernatural  character  of  the 
Christian  religion  imposes  upon  its  adherents  the 
duty  of  finding  a  statement  of  it  which  will  not  be 
impaired  by  our  wavering  knowledge  of  nature  and 
history ;  and,  indeed,  which  will  be  able  to  maintain 
itself  before  every  possible  theory  of  nature  or  of 
history.  The  problem  which  thus  arises  permits, 
indeed,  of  no  absolute  solution,  since  all  knowledge 
is  relative ;  and  yet  religion  essays  to  bring  her  ab- 
solute truth  into  the  sphere  of  relative  knowledge 
and  to  reduce  it  to  statement  there.  But  history 
teaches,  and  every  thinking  Christian  testifies,  that 
the  problem  does  not  come  to  its  solution ;  even  on 
that  account  the  progressive  efforts  which  have 
been  made  to  solve  it  are  of  value. 

3.  The  most  thorough-going  attempt  at  solution 
hitherto  is  that  which  the  Catholic  Church  made, 
and  which  the  churches  of  the  Reformation  (with 
more  or  less  restrictions)  have  continued  to  make, 
viz. :  Accepting  a  collection  of  Christian  and  Pre- 
Christian  writings  and  oral  traditions  as  of  Divine 
origin,  to  deduce  from  them  a  system  of  doctrine, 
arranged  in  scientific  form  for  apologetic  purposes, 
which  should  have  as  its  content  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  the  world  and  of  the  means  of  salvation; 
then  to  proclaim  this  complex  system  {of  dogma) 
as  the  compendium  of  Christianity,  to  demand  of 
every  mature  member  of  the  Church  a  faithful  ac- 
ceptance of  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  maintain  thai 
the  same  is  a  necessary  preparation  for  the  blessed- 


PROLEGOMENA. 


ness  promised  by  the  religion.  With  this  augmen- 
tation the  Christian  brotherhood,  whose  character 
as  "  Catholic  Church  "  is  essentially  indicated  under 
this  conception  of  Christianity,  took  a  definite  and, 
as  was  supposed,  incontestable  attitude  toward  the 
science  of  nature  and  of  history,  expressed  its  relig- 
ious faith  in  God  and  Christ,  and  yet  gave  (inas- 
much as  it  required  of  all  its  members  an  acceptance 
of  these  articles  of  faith)  to  the  thinking  part  of  the 
community  a  system  which  is  capable  of  a  wider  and 
indeed  boundless  development.  Thus  arose  dog- 
matic Christianity. 

4.  The  aim  of  the  history  of  dogma  is,  (1)  To  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  this  dogmatic  Christianity,  and, 
(2)  To  describe  its  development. 

5.  The  history  of  the  rise  of  dogmatic  Christian- 
ity would  seem  to  close  when  a  well-formulated  sys- 
tem of  belief  had  been  established  by  scientific 
means,  and  had  been  made  the  "  articulus  constitu- 
tivus  ecelesiw"  and  as  such  had  been  imposed  upon 
the  entire  Church.  This  took  place  in  the  transition 
from  the  3d  to  the  4th  century  when  the  Logos- 
Christology  was  established.  The  development  of 
dogma  is  in  abstracto  without  limit,  but  in  con- 
creto it  has  come  to  an  end.  For,  (a)  the  Greek 
Church  maintains  that  its  system  of  dogma  has  been 
complete  since  the  end  of  the  "  Image  Controversy  " ; 
(b)  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  leaves  the  possibil- 
ity of  the  formulating  of  new  dogmas  open,  but  in 
the  Tridentine  Council  and  still  more  in  the  Vatican 


Aim  of 

History  of 

Dogma 


Rise    of 
Dogma. 


Develop- 
ment of 
Dogma. 


Greek 
Church. 


Roman 
Church.. 


4  OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

has  it  in  fact  on  political  grounds  rounded  out  its 
dogma  as  a  legal  system  which  above  all  demands 
obedience  and  only  secondarily  conscious  faith ;  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  consequently  abandoned 
the  original  motive  of  dogmatic  Christianity  and 
has  placed  a  wholly  new  motive  in  its  stead,  retain- 
Evanepi-  ing  the  mere  semblance  of  the  old ;  (c)  The  Evan- 
Churches,  gelical  churches  have,  on  the  one  hand,  accepted  a 
greater  part  of  the  formulated  doctrines  of  dogmatic 
Christianity  and  seek  to  ground  them,  like  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  took  a  different  view  of  the  author- 
ity of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  they  put  aside  tradition 
as  a  source  in  matters  of  belief,  they  questioned  the 
significance  of  the  empirical  Church  as  regards  the 
dogma,  and  above  all  they  tried  to  put  forward  a 
formulation  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  goes 
directly  back  to  the  "  true  understanding  of  the 
Word  of  God."  Thus  in  principle  the  ancient  dog- 
matic conception  of  Christianity  was  set  aside,  while 
however  in  certain  matters  no  fixed  attitude  was 
taken  toward  the  same  and  reactions  began  at  once 
and  still  continue.  Therefore  is  it  announced  that 
Protestant  the  history  of  Protestant  doctrine  will  be  excluded 
Excluded,  from  the  history  of  dogma,  and  within  the  former 
will  be  indicated  only  the  position  of  the  Reformers 
and  of  the  churches  of  the  Reformation,  out  of  which 
the  later  complicated  development  grew.  Hence  the 
history  of  dogma  can  be  treated  as  relatively  a  com- 
pleted discipline. 


PROLEGOMENA. 


0.  The  claim  of  the  Church  that  the  dogmas  are     Dogmas 

not    Expo- 

simply  the  exposition  of  the  Christian  revelation,  ^j?gti^ 
because  deduced  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  not  uon.a 
confirmed  by  historical  investigation.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  becomes  clear  that  dogmatic  Christianity 
(the  dogmas)  in  its  conception  and  in  its  construc- 
tion was  the  work  of  the  Hellenic  spirit  upon  the 
Gospel  soil.  The  intellectual  medium  by  which  in 
early  times  men  sought  to  make  the  Gospel  compre- 
hensible and  to  establish  it  securely,  became  insep- 
arably blended  with  the  content  of  the  same.  Thus 
arose  the  dogma,  in  whose  formation,  to  be  sure, 
other  factors  (the  words  of  Sacred  Scripture,  require- 
ments of  the  cult,  and  of  the  organization,  political 
and  social  environment,  the  impulse  to  push  things 
to  their  logical  consequences,  blind  custom,  etc.) 
played  a  part,  yet  so  that  the  desire  and  effort  to 
formulate  the  main  principles  of  the  Christian  re- 
demption, and  to  explain  and  develop  them,  secured 
the  upper  hand,  at  least  in  the  earlier  times. 

7.  Just  as  the  formulating  of  the  dogma  proved  to  2?^?^. 
be  an  illusion,  so  far  as  the  same  was  to  be  the  pure  Dogma, 
exposition  of  the  Gospel,  so  also  does  historical  inves- 
tigation destroy  the  other  illusion  of  the  Church, 
viz. :  that  the  dogma,  always  having  been  the  same 
therein,  have  simply  been  explained,  and  that  eccle- 
siastical theology  has  never  had  any  other  aim  than 
to  explain  the  unchanging  dogma  and  to  refute  the 
heretical  teaching  pressing  in  from  without.  The 
formulating  of  the  dogma  indicates  rather  that  the- 


6  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

ology  constructed  the  dogma,  but  that  the  Church 
must  ever  conceal  the  labor  of  the  theologians, 
which  thus  places  them  in  an  unfortunate  plight. 
In  each  favorable  case  the  result  of  their  labor  has 
been  declared  to  be  a  reproduction  and  they  them- 
selves have  been  robbed  of  their  best  service;  as  a 
rule  in  the  progress  of  history  they  fell  under  the 
condemnation  of  the  dogmatic  scheme,  whose  foun- 
dation they  themselves  had  laid,  and  so  entire  gener- 
rations  of  theologians,  as  well  as  the  chief  leaders 
thereof,  have,  in  the  further  development  of  dogma, 
been  afterwards  marked  and  declared  to  be  heretics 
or  held  in  suspicion.  Dogma  has  ever  in  the  prog- 
ress of  history  devoured  its  own  progenitors. 
Augustine,  g.  Although  dogmatic  Christianity  has  never,  in 
the  process  of  its  development,  lost  its  original  style 
and  character  as  a  work  of  the  spirit  of  perishing 
antiquity  upon  Gospel  soil  {style  of  the  Greek 
apologists  and  of  Origin),  yet  it  experienced  first 
through  Augustine  and  later  through  Luther  a 
deeper  and  more  thorough  transformation.  Both  of 
these  men,  the  latter  more  than  the  former,  cham- 
pioned a  new  and  more  evangelical  conception  of 
Christianity,  guided  chiefly  by  Paulinism;  Augus- 
tine however  hardly  attempted  a  revision  of  the  tra- 
ditional dogma,  rather  did  he  co-ordinate  the  old  and 
the  new;  Luther,  indeed,  attempted  it,  but  did  not 
carry  it  through.  The  Christian  quality  of  the 
dogma  gained  through  the  influence  of  each,  and  the 
old  traditional  system  of  dogma  was  relaxed  some- 


PROLEGOMENA.  7 

what — this  was  so  much  the  case  in  Protestantism 
that  one  does  well,  as  remarked  above,  no  longer  to 
consider  the  symbolical  teaching  of  the  Protestant 
churches  as  wholly  a  recasting  of  the  old  dogma. 

9.  An    understanding   of    the   dogmatico-historic  Periods  in 

History   of 

process  cannot  be  secured  by  isolating  the  special  Dogma- 
doctrines  and  considering  them  separately  (Special 
History  of  Dogma)  after  that  the  epochs  have  been 
previously  characterized  (General  History  of  Dogma) . 
It  is  much  better  to  consider  the  "  general "  and  the 
"  special "  in  each  period  and  to  treat  the  periods  sep- 
arately, and  as  much  as  possible  to  prove  the  special 
doctrines  to  be  the  outcome  of  the  fundamental  ideas 
and  motives.  It  is  not  possible,  however,  to  make 
more  than  four  principal  divisions,  viz. :  I.  The  Ori- 
gin of  Dogma.  II.  a.  The  Development  of  Dogma 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  its  original  con- 
ception (Oriental  Development  from  Arianism  to  the 
Image-Controversy).  II.  b.  The  Occidental  Devel- 
opment of  Dogma  under  the  influence  of  Augustine's 
Christianity  and  the  Roman  papal  politics.  II.  c. 
The  Three-fold  Issuing  of  Dogma  (in  the  churches 
of  the  Reformation — in  Tridentine  Catholicism — and 
in  the  criticism  of  the  rationalistic  age,  i.e.,  of  So- 
cinianism) . 

10.  The  history  of  dogma,  in  that  it  sets  forth  the    value  of 
process  of  the  origin  and  development  of  the  dogma, 

offers  the  very  best  means  and  methods  of  freeing 
the  Church  from  dogmatic  Christianity,  and  of  hast- 
ening the  inevitable  process  of  emancipation,  which 


8 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


began  with  Augustine.  But  the  history  of  dogma 
testifies  also  to  the  unity  and  continuity  of  the 
Christian  faith  in  the  progress  of  its  history,  in  so 
far  as  it  proves  that  certain  fundamental  ideas  of  the 
Gospel  have  never  been  lost  and  have  defied  all 
attacks. 

II.— History  of  the  History  of  Dogma. 


Mosheim, 
etc. 


Baronius, 
etc. 


Luther, 
etc. 


Erasmus, 
etc. 


Benedic- 
tine, etc. 


Gottfried 
Arnold. 


The  narrative  of  the  History  of  Dogma  begins  first 
in  the  18th  century  with  Mosheim,  Walch,  Ernesti, 
Lessing,  and  Semler,  since  Catholicism  in  general  is 
not  fitted  for  a  critical  handling  of  the  subject,  al- 
though learned  works  have  been  written  by  individ- 
ual Catholic  theologians  (Baronius  Bellarmin,  Peta- 
vius,  Thomassin,  Kuhn,  Schwane,  Bach,  etc.),  and 
since  the  Protestant  churches  remained  until  the 
18th  century  under  the  ban  of  confessionalism,  al- 
though important  contributions  were  made  in  the 
time  of  the  Reformation  (Luther,  Okolampad,  Mel- 
anchthon,  Flacius,  Hyperius,  Chemnitz)  to  the  criti- 
cal treatment  of  the  History  of  Dogma,  based  in  part 
upon  the  labors  of  the  critically  disposed  humanists 
(L.  Valla;  Erasmus,  etc.).  But  without  the  learned 
material,  which,  on  the  one  band,  the  Benedictine 
and  other  Orders  had  gathered  together,  and,  on  the 
other,  the  Protestant  Casaubonus,  Vossius,  Pearson, 
Dalläus,  Spanheim,  Grabe,  Basnage,  etc.,  and  with- 
out the  grand  impulse  which  pietism  gave  (Gott- 
fried Arnold),  the  work  of  the  18th  century  would 


PROLEGOMENA. 


9 


have  been  inconsiderable.  Rationalism  robbed  the 
history  of  dogma  of  its  ecclesiastical  interest  and 
gave  it  over  to  a  critical  treatment  in  which  its 
darkness  was  lighted  up  in  part  by  the  lamp  of 
common  understanding  and  in  part  by  the  torch 
of  general  historical  contemplation  (first  History  of 
Dogma  by  Lange,  1796,  previous  works  by  Semler, 
Rössler,  Löffler,  etc.,  then  the  History  of  Dogma 
by  Mimscher,  Handb.  4  Bdd.  1797  f.,  an  excellent 
Lehrbuch,  1.  Aufl.  1811,  3.  Aufl.  1832,  Munter 
2  Bdd.  1802  f,  Stäudlin  1800  and  1822,  Augusti 
1805  and  1835,  Gieseler,  edited  by  Redepenning  2 
Bdd.  1855).  The  valuable  handbooks  of  Baumgar- 
ten-Crusius  1832,  i.e.  1840  and  1846,  and  of  Meier 
1840,  i.e.  1854,  mark  the  transition  to  a  class  of 
works  in  which  an  inner  understanding  of  the  pro- 
cess of  the  History  of  Dogma  has  been  won,  for 
which  Lessing  had  already  striven,  and  for  which 
Herder,  Schleiermacher  and  the  Romanticists  on  the 
one  side,  and  Hegel  and  Schelling  on  the  other,  had 
prepared  the  way.  Epoch-making  were  the  writings 
of  F.  Chr.  Baur  (Lehrb.  1847,  i.e.  1867,  Vorles. 
3.  Thl.  1865  f.),  in  which  the  dogmatico-historic 
process,  conceived  to  be  sure  in  a  one-sided  way, 
was,  so  to  speak,  lived  over  again  (cf .  also  Strauss, 
Glaubenslehre  2  Bdd.  1840  f.  Marheineke  1849). 
From  the  Schleiermacher  point  of  view,  is  Neander 
(2.  Thl.  1857)  and  Hagenbach  (1840,  i.e.  1867). 
Dorner  (History  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Person  of 
Christ,  1839  i.e.  1845-53)  attempted  to  unite  Hegel 


Lange. 


Münscher. 


Baume:ar- 

ten-Cru- 

sius. 


Lessing, 
Herder, 
Schleier- 
macher, 
Hegel, 
Schelling. 


Baur. 


Neander. 


Dorner. 


10  OUTLINES    OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

and  Schleiermacher.  From  the  Lutheran  Confes- 
sional standpoint  Kliefoth  (Einl.  in  d.  D.  G.  1839), 
Thomasius  (2  Bdd.  1874  f.  and  1887  edited  by  Bon- 
wetsch  1  Bd.),  Schmid  (1859  i.e.  1887  ed.  by  Hauck) 
and,  with  reservations,  Kahnis  (The  Faith  of  the 
Church,  18G4).  A  marked  advance  is  indicated  in 
Nitzsch.  the  History  of  Dogma  by  Nitzsch  (1  Bd.  1870).  For 
a  correct  understanding  especially  of  the  origin  of 
dogma  the  labors  of  Rothe,  Ritschi,  Renan,  Over- 
beck,  v.  Engelhardt,  Weizsäcker  and  Reville  are 
valuable. 

PRESUPPOSITIONS   OF  THE   HISTORY 
OF  DOGMA. 

III. — Introductory. 

Gospel  is  i .  The  gospel  appeared  in  the  "  fulness  of  time. " 
chnst.  ^n(j  ^e  Q0Spei  js  Jesus  Christ.  In  these  sentences 
the  announcement  is  made  that  the  Gospel  is  the 
climax  of  an  universal  development  and  yet  that  it 
has  its  power  in  a  personal  Life.  Jesus  Christ  "  de- 
stroyed not,"  but  "fulfilled."  He  witnessed  a  new 
life  before  God  and  in  God,  but  within  the  confines 
of  Judaism,  and  upon  the  soil  of  the  Old  Testament 
whose  hidden  treasures  he  uncovered.  It  can  be 
shown,  that  everything  that  is  "lofty  and  spiritual" 
in  the  Psalms  and  Prophets,  and  everything  that  had 
been  gained  through  the  development  of  Grecian 
ethics,  is  reaffirmed  in  the  plain  and  simple  Gospel ; 
but  it  obtained  its  power  there,  because  it  became 


PROLEGOMENA.  11 

life  and  deed  in  a  Person,  whose  greatness  consists 
also  in  this,  that  he  did  not  remould  his  earthly  en- 
vironment, nor  encounter  any  subsequent  rebuff, — 
in  other  words,  that  he  did  not  become  entangled  in 
his  times. 

2.  Two  generations  later  there  existed,  to  be  sure,    confeder- 

°  '      ated  Con- 

no  united  and  homogeneous  Church,  but  there  £resatlons- 
were  scattered  throughout  the  wide  Roman  empire 
confederated  congregations  of  Christian  believers 
(churches)  who,  for  the  most  part,  were  Gentile- 
born  and  condemned  the  Jewish  nation  and  religion 
as  apostate;  they  appropriated  the  Old  Testament  as 
theirs  by  right  and  considered  themselves  a  "new 
nation",  and  yet  as  the  "ancient  creation  of  God", 
while  in  all  departments  of  life  and  thought  certain 
sacred  forms  were  gradually  being  put  forward. 
The  existence  of  these  confederated  Gentile  Christian  v 
communities  is  the  preliminary  condition  to  the  rise 
of  dogmatic  Christianity. 

The  organization  of  these  churches  began,  indeed,   Freeing  of 

Gospel 

in  the  apostolic  times  and  their  peculiar  constitution  fr0,n  hJew" 
is  negatively  indicated  by  the  freeing  of  the  Gospel  Church- 
from  the  Jewish  church.  While  in  Islamism  the 
Arabic  nation  remained  for  centuries  the  main  trunk 
of  the  new  religion,  it  is  an  astonishing  fact  in  the 
history  of  the  Gospel,  that  it  soon  left  its  native  soil 
and  went  forth  into  the  wide  world  and  realized  its 
universal  character,  not  through  the  transformation 
of  the  Jewish  religion,  but  by  developing  into  a 
world-religion  upon  Grceco- Roman  soil.     The  Gos- 


12 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Gospel 
World-Re- 
ligion. 


Classical 

Epoch  of 

Gospel 

History. 


Paul's  Mis- 
sion. 


No  Chasm 

Between 

Earlier 

Epoch  and 

Succeeding 

Period. 


pel  became  a  world-religion  in  that,  having  a 
message  for  all  mankind,  it  preached  it  to  Greek 
and  barbarian,  and  accordingly  attached  itself 
to  the  spiritual  and  political  life  of  the  ivorld- 
wide  Roman  empire. 

3.  Since  the  Gospel  in  its  original  form  was  Jew- 
ish and  was  preached  only  to  the  Jews,  there  lay  in 
this  transition,  which  was  brought  about,  in  part 
gradually  and  without  disturbance,  and  in  part 
through  a  severe  crisis,  consequences  of  the  most 
stringent  kind.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  and  of  dogma,  the  brief  history  of  the 
Gospel  within  the  bounds  of  Palestinian  Judaism  is 
accordingly  a  paleontological  epoch.  And  yet  this 
remains  the  classical  epoch,  not  only  on  account  of 
the  Founder  and  of  the  original  testimony,  but  quite 
as  much  because  a  Jewish  Christian  (Paul)  recog- 
nized the  Gospel  as  the  power  of  God,  which  was 
able  to  save  both  Jew  and  Greek,  and  because  he 
designedly  severed  the  Gospel  from  the  Jewish  na- 
tional religion  and  proclaimed  the  Christ  as  the  end 
of  the  Law.  Then  other  Jewish  Christians,  personal 
disciples  of  Jesus,  indeed,  followed  him  in  all  this 
(see  also  the  4th  Gospel  and  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews) . 

Yet  there  is  in  reality  no  chasm  between  the  older 
brief  epoch  and  the  succeeding  period,  so  far  as  the 
Gospel  is  in  itself  universalistic,  and  this  character 
very  soon  became  manifest.  But  the  means  by 
which  Paul  and  his  sympathizers  set  forth  the  uni- 


PROLEGOMENA.  13 

versal  character  of  the  Gospel  (proving  that  the  Old 
Testament  religion  had  been  fulfilled  and  done  away 
with)  was  little  understood,  and,  vice  versa,  the 
manner  and  means  by  which  the  Gentile  Christians 
came  to  an  acceptance  of  the  Gospel,  can  only  in 
part  be  attributed  to  the  preaching  of  Paul.  So  far 
as  we  now  possess  in  the  New  Testament  substan- 
tial writings  in  which  the  Gospel  is  so  thoroughly 
thought  out  that  it  is  prized  as  the  supplantei"  of  the 
Old  Testament  religion,  and  writings  which  at  the 
same  time  are  not  deeply  touched  with  the  Greek 
spirit,  does  this  literature  differ  radically  from  all 
that  follows. 

4.  The  growing  Gentile  Church,  notwithstanding     Gentile 

00  7  °    Church  did 

Paul's  significant  relation  toward  it,  did  not  com-  ^J^^ 
prehend,  nor  really  experience  the  crisis,  out  of  Problem, 
which  the  Pauline  conception  of  the  Gospel  arose. 
In  the  Jewish  propaganda,  within  which  the  Old 
Testament  had  long  since  become  liberalized  and 
spiritualized,  the  Gentile  Church,  entering  and  grad- 
ually subjecting  the  same  to  itself,  seldom  felt  the 
problem  of  the  reconciliation  of  the  Old  Testament 
with  the  Gospel,  since  by  means  of  the  allegorical 
method  the  propaganda  had  freed  themselves  from 
the  letter  of  the  law,  but  had  not  entirely  overcome 
its  spirit;  indeed  they  had  simply  cast  off  their 
national  character.  Moved  by  the  hostile  power  of 
the  Jews  and  later  also  of  the  Gentiles  and  by  the 
consciousness  of  inherent  strength  to  organize  a 
"  people  "  for  itself,  the  Church  as  a  matter  of  course 


14  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

took  on  the  form  of  the  thought  and  life  of  the  world 
in  which  it  lived,  casting  aside  everything  polythe- 
istic, immoral  and  vulgar.     Thus  arose  the  new  or- 
Gentiie     ganizations,  which  with  all  their  newness  bore  testi- 
RManyed    mony  to  their  kinship  with  the  original  Palestinian 
character^  churches,  in  so  far  as,  (1)  the  Old  Testament  was 

istics 

likewise  recognized  as  a  primitive  revelation,  and 
in  so  far  as,  (2)  the  strong  spiritual  monotheism,  (3) 
the  outlines  of  the  proclamation  concerning  Jesus 
Christ,  (4)  the  consciousness  of  a  direct  and  living 
fellowship  with  God  through  the  gift  of  the  Spirit, 
(5)  the  expectation  of  the  approaching  end  of  the 
world,  and  the  earnest  conviction  of  the  personal 
responsibility  and  accountability  of  each  individual 
soul  were  all  likewise  maintained.  To  these  is  to 
be  added  finally,  that  the  earliest  Jewish-Christian 
proclamation,  yes,  the  Gospel  itself,  bears  the  stamp 
of  the  spiritual  epochs,  out  of  which  it  arose, — of  the 
Hellenic  age,  in  which  the  nations  exchanged  their 
wares  and  religions  were  transformed,  and  the  idea 
of  the  worth  and  accountability  of  every  soul  became 
widespread;  so  that  the  Hellenism  which  soon 
pressed  so  mightily  into  the  Church  was  not  abso- 
lutely strange  and  new. 
DoiSmahas  ^'  ^ie  hi^OTV  of  dogma  has  to  do  with  the  Gen- 
t°Gent5eih  tile  Church  only — the  history  of  theology  begins,  it 
only.  is  true,  with  Paul — ,  but  in  order  to  understand  his- 
torically the  basis  of  the  formation  of  doctrine  in  the 
Gentile  Church,  it  must  take  into  consideration,  as 
already  stated,   the  following  as  antecedent  condi- 


PROLEGOMENA.  15 

tions:    (1)    The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,   (2)    The    Presuppo- 

v    '  sitions. 

general  and  simultaneous  proclamation  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  first  generation  of  believers,  (3)  The 
current  understanding  and  exposition  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  Jewish  anticipations  of  the  fu- 
ture and  their  speculations,  (4)  The  religious  con- 
ceptions and  the  religious  philosophy  of  the  Hel- 
lenistic Jews,  (5)  The  religious  attitude  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  during  the  first  two  centu- 
ries, and  the  current  Grceco-Boman  philosophy 
of  religion. 

IV.— The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  according 
to  His  Own  Testimony. 

(^The  Gospel  is  the  good  news  of  the  reign  of  the  G^p^eJs 
Almighty  and  Holy  God,  the  Father  and  Judge  of  "oT 
the  world  and  of  each  individual  soul.  In  this  reign, 
which  makes  men  citizens  of  the  heavenly  kingdom 
and  gives  them  to  realize  their  citizenship  in  the  ap- 
proaching eon,  the  life  of  every  man  who  gives  him- 
self to  God  is  secure,  even  if  he  should  immediately 
lose  the  world  and  his  earthly  life;  while  those 
who  seek  to  win  the  world  and  to  keep  their  life  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Judge,  who  condemns  them  to 
hell.  This  reign  of  God,  in  that  it  rises  above  all 
ceremonies  and  statutes,  places  men  under  a  law, 
which  is  old  and  yet  new,  viz. :  Whole-hearted  love     Love  to 

J  God  and 

to  God  and  to  one's  neighbor.     In  this  love,  wher-       Man- 
ever  it  controls  the  thoughts  in  their  deepest  springs, 
that  belter  justice  is  exemplified  which  corresponds 


16 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


to  the  perfection  of  God.  The  way  to  secure  this 
righteousness  is  by  a  change  of  heart,  i.e.  by  self- 
denial  and  humility  before  God  and  a  heart-felt 
trust  in  him.  In  such  humility  and  trust  in  God 
the  soul  realizes  its  own  un worthiness.  The  Gospel, 
however,  calls  even  sinners,  who  are  so  disposed, 
unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  in  that  it  assures  them 
satisfaction  with  his  justice,  i.e.,  guarantees  them 
the  forgiveness  of  the  sins  which  have  hitherto 
separated  them  from  God.  In  the  three-fold  form, 
however,  in  which  the  Gospel  is  set  forth,  (God's 
Ger1>  StyV"  sovereignty,  higher  justice  [law  of  love]  and  for- 
LoLvaeWFor-  giveness  of  sin)   it  is  inseparably  connected  with 

sri  vctiGss  of 

sin.  Jesus  Christ.  For  in  the  proclamation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, Jesus  Christ  everywhere  called  men  unto  him- 
self. In  him  is  the  Gospel  word  and  deed;  it  is 
his  meat  and  drink  and,  therefore,  is  it  become  his 
personal  life,  and  into  this  life  he  would  draw  all 
men.  He  is  the  Son,  who  knows  the  Father.  Men 
should  see  in  him  how  kind  the  Lord  is;  in  him 
they  may  experience  the  power  and  sovereignty  of 
God  over  the  world  and  be  comforted  in  this  trust ; 
him,  the  meek  and  gentle-hearted  One,  should  they 
follow ;  and  inasmuch  as  he,  the  holy  and  pure  One, 
calls  sinners  unto  himself,  they  should  be  fully  as- 
sured that  God  through  him  forgives  siny' 

This  close  connection  of  his  Gospel  with  his  per- 
son, Jesus  by  no  means  made  prominent  in  words, 
but  left  his  disciples  to  experience  it.  He  called 
himself  the  Son  of  Man  and  led  them  on  to  the  con- 


Gospel 

Word  and 

Deed  in 

Jesus. 


PROLEGOMENA.  17 

fession    that    he  was   their   Master   and    Messiah.  Jesus  Mes- 
siah. 

Thereby  he  gave  to  his  lasting  significance  for  them 
and  for  his  people  a  comprehensible  expression,  and 
at  the  close  of  his  life,  in  an  hour  of  great  solemnity, 
he  said  to  them  that  his  death  also  like  his  life  was 
an  imperishable  service  which  he  rendered  to  the 
"many"  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  By  this  he 
raised  himself  above  the  plane  of  all  others,  although 
they  may  already  be  his  brethren;  he  claimed  for 
himself  an  unique  significance  as  the  Redeemer  and  Redeemer, 
as  the  Judge  ;  for  he  interpreted  his  death,  like  all 
his  suffering,  as  a  triumph,  as  the  transition  to  his 
glory,  and  he  proved  his  power  by  actually  awaken- 
ing in  his  disciples  the  conviction  that  he  still  lives 
and  is  Lord  over  the  dead  and  the  living.  (The  re- 
ligion of  the  Gospel  rests  upon  this  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  i.e.  looking  upon  him,  that  historical  Per- 
son, the  believer  is  convinced  that  God  rules  heaven 
and  earth,  and  that  God,  the  Judge,  is  also  Father 
and  Kedeemer.  The  religion  of  the  Gospel  is  the  re-  Free°sSfrom 
ligion  which  frees  men  from  all  legality,  which,  how-  a11  itygal" 
ever,  at  the  same  time  lays  upon  them  the  highest 
moral  obligations — the  simplest  and  the  severest — 
and  lays  bare  the  contradiction  in  which  every  man 
finds  himself  as  regards  them.  But  it  brings  re- 
demption out  of  such  necessities,  in  that  it  leads 
men  to  the  gracious  God,  leaves  them  in  his  hands, 
and  draws  their  life  into  union  with  the  inexhaustible 
and  blessed  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  overcome 

the  world  and  called  sinners  to  himself.^ 
2  J 


18  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

V. — The  General  Proclamation  concerning 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  First  Generation  of 
His  Adherents. 

Jesus  Ris-        i    ]\j;en  had  learned  to  know  Jesus  Christ  and  bad 

en  Lord. 

found  him  to  be  the  Messiah.  In  the  first  two  gen- 
erations following  him  everything  was  said  about 
him  which  men  were  in  any  way  able  to  say.  Inas- 
much as  they  knew  him  to  be  the  Risen  One,  they 
exalted  him  as  the  Lord  of  the  world  and  of  history, 

way,       sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  as  the  Way,  the 

Life.       Truth  and  the  Life,  as  the  Prince  of  Life  and  the 
living  Power  of  a  new  existence,  as  the  Conqueror 

King.  of  death  and  the  King  of  a  coming  new  kingdom. 
Although  strong  individual  feeling,  special  experi- 
ence, Scriptural  learning  and  a  fantastic  tendency 
gave  from  the  beginning  a  form  to  the  confession  of 
him,  yet  common  characteristics  of  the  proclamation 
can  be  definitely  pointed  out. 
SSsc!pies°'f  2.  The  content  of  the  disciples'  belief  and  the  gen- 
eral proclamation  of  it  on  the  ground  of  the  certainty 
of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  can  be  set  forth  as  fol- 
lows :  Jesus  is  the  Messiah  promised  by  the  prophets 
— he  will  come  again  and  establish  a  visible  king- 
dom,— they  who  believe  on  him  and  surrender  them- 
selves entirely  to  this  belief,  may  feel  assured  of  the 
grace  of  God  and  of  a  share  in  his  future  glory.  A 
new  community  of  Christian  believers  thus  organized 
church      itself  within  the  Jewish  nation.     And  this  new  com- 

raei.       munity  believed  itself  to  be  the  true  Israel  of  the 


PROLEGOMENA.  19 

Messianic  times  and  lived,  accordingly,  in  all  their 
thoughts  and  feelings  in  the  future.  Thus  could  all 
the  Jewish  apocalyptic  expectations  retain  their  pow- 
er for  the  time  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  For 
the  fulfilment  of  these  hopes  the  new  community  pos- 
sessed a  guarantee  in  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ, 
as  also  in  the  manifold  manifestations  of  the  Spirit, 
which  were  visible  upon  the  members  upon  their 
entrance  into  the  brother-hood  (from  the  beginning 
this  introduction  seems  to  have  been  accompanied  by  Possession 

r  J       of  Spirit, 

baptism)  and  in  their  gathering  together.  The  pos-  *jjFg23f 
session  of  the  Spirit  was  an  assurance  to  each  indi-  PleshlP- 
vidual  that  he  was  not  only  a  "  disciple  "  but  also  a 
"called  saint,"  and,  as  such,  a  priest  and  king  of 
God.  Faith  in  the  God  of  Israel  became  faith  in 
God  the  Father  :  added  to  this  was  faith  in  Jesus, 
the  Christ  and  Son  of  God,  and  the  witness  of  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  i.e.  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and 
Christ.  In  the  strength  of  this  faith  men  lived  in 
the  fear  of  the  Judge  and  in  trust  in  God,  who  had 
already  begun  the  redemption  of  his  own  people. 
The    proclamation    concerning  Jesus,    the    Christ,    Preaching 

r  °  '  '     Based  En- 

rested  first  of  all  entirely  upon  the  Old  Testament,  owTesta 
yet  it  had  its  starting-point  in  the  exaltation  of 
Jesus  through  his  resurrection  from  the  dead.  To 
prove  that  the  entire  Old  Testament  pointed  toward 
him,  and  that  his  person,  his  work,  his  fate  were  the 
actual  and  verbal  fulfilment  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophecies,  was  the  chief  interest  of  believers,  in  so 
far  as  they  did  not  give  themselves  entirely  to  ex- 


Old  Testa- 
ment. 


20  OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

pectations  of  the  future.  This  reference  did  not 
serve  at  once  to  make  clear  the  meaning  and  worth 
of  the  Messianic  work — this  it  did  not  seem  to  need 
— but  rather  to  establish  the  Messiah-ship  of  Jesus. 
However,  the  Old  Testament,  as  it  was  then  under- 
stood, gave  occasion,  through  the  fixing  of  the  per- 
son and  dignity  of  Christ,  for  widening  the  scope 
of  the  thought  of  Israel's  perfected  theocracy.  And, 
in  addition,  faith  in  the  exaltation  of  Jesus  to  the 
right  hand  of  Gcd  caused  men  to  think  of  the  begin- 
ning of  his  existence  in  harmony  therewith.  Then 
the  fact  of  the  successful  Gentile  conversion  threw  a 
new  light  upon  the  scope  of  his  work,  i.e.  upon  its 
significance  for  all  mankind.  And  finally  the  per- 
sonal claims  of  Jesus  led  men  to  reflect  on  his  pecu- 
liar relation  to  God,  the  Father.  On  these  four 
tione<Belaan  Pom^s  speculation  began  already  in  the  apostolic  age 
micAAgeso1  an(^  i*  went  on  to  formulate  new  statements  concern- 
ing the  person  and  dignity  of  Christ.  In  proclaim- 
ing Jesus  to  be  the  Christ  men  ceased  thereby  to 
proclaim  the  Gospel,  because  the  rrjpsiv  -dvra  oaa 
iversUaTo  6  'Irjeovs  was  to  be  included  as  a  matter  of 
course  and  so  did  not  especially  engage  the  thoughts. 
That  this  must  be  for  the  future  a  questionable 
digression  is  plain  enough;  for  since  everything 
depends  upon  the  appropriation  of  the  Person  of 
Jesus,  it  is  not  possible  for  a  personal  life  to  be 
appropriated  through  opinions  about  the  Person, 
but  only  through  the  record  of  the  concrete  Per- 
sonality. 


PROLEGOMENA.  21 

3.  Upon  the  basis  of  the  plain  words  of  Jesus  and    Assurance 

x  x  ot  1  orgive- 

in  the  consciousness  of  the  possession  of  the  Spirit  men  R?|hteouL 

-,  ,  ,      £  ,  •  p  ,i         ness  Before 

were  already  assured  or  a.  present  possession  of  the  God. 
forgiveness  of  sin,  of  righteousness  before  God,  of 
the  full  knowledge  of  the  Divine  Will  and  of  the  call 
into  the  future  kingdom.  In  the  acquiring  of  these 
blessings,  surely  not  a  few  realized  the  consequences 
of  the  first  coming  of  the  Messiah,  i.e.  his  work,  and 
they  referred  especially  the  forgiveness  of  sin  to 
the  death  of  Christ,  and  eternal  life  to  his  resurrec 
tion.  But  no  theories  touching  the  relation  of  the 
blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  the  history  of  Christ  were 
propounded ;  Paul  was  the  first  to  develop  a  theology 
upon  the  basis  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
and  to  bring  it  into  relations  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment religion. 

4.  This  theology  was  constructed  in  opposition  to  ^}0üsoh!" 
the  legalistic  righteousness  of  the  pharisees,  i.e.,  to    LeSlsUc 

PlI  O. "lit  CO  US" 

the  official  religion  of  the  Old  Testament.  While  its  ness. 
form  was  thereby  somewhat  conditioned,  its  power 
rested  in  the  certainty  of  the  new  life  of  the  Spirit, 
which  the  Risen  One  offered,  who  through  his  death 
overcame  the  world  of  the  flesh  and  of  sin.  With 
the  thought  that  righteousness  comes  through  faith 
in  God  who  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead  and  fulfilled 
the  Law  by  the  legal  way  of  the  crucifixion  of  the 
Christ  upon  the  cross,  Paul  wrenched  the  Gospel 
from  its  native  soil  and  gave  it  at  the  same  time 
through  his  Christological  speculation  and  his  carry- 
ing out  of  the  contrast  of  flesh  and  spirit,  a  charac- 


22  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

teristic  stamp  which  was  comprehensible  to  the 
Greeks,  although  they  were  illy  prepared  to  accept 
his  special  manner  of  reconciling  it  with  the  Law. 
Through  Paul,  who  was  the  first  theologian,  the 
question  of  the  Law  (in  theory  and  practice)  and 
the  principles  of  missionary  activity  accordingly  be- 
came the  absorbing  themes  in  the  Christian  commu- 
nities. While  he  proclaimed  freedom  from  the  Law 
and  baptized  the  heathen,  forbidding  them  to  become 
Jews,  others  now  for  the  first  time  consciously  made 
the  righteousness  of  Christian  believers  dependent 
upon  the  punctilious  observance  of  the  Law  and  re- 
Heathen  jected  Paul  as  an  apostle  and  as  a  Christian.  Yet 
°Becometo  ^ne  chief  disciples  of  Jesus  were  convinced,  perhaps 
not  a  little  influenced  by  the  success  of  Paul,  and 
conceded  to  the  heathen  the  right  to  become  Chris- 
tians without  first  becoming  Jews.  This  well  at- 
tested fact  is  the  strongest  evidence  that  Christ  had 
awakened  among  his  personal  disciples  a  faith  in 
himself,  which  was  dearer  to  them  than  all  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  fathers.  Yet  there  were  among  those 
who  accepted  the  Pauline  mission  various  opinions 
as  to  the  attitude  which  one  should  take  toward 
heathen  Christians  in  ordinary  life  and  intercourse. 
These  opinions  held  out  for  a  long  time. 
mXicmof  -^-s  surety  as  Paul  had  fought  his  fight  for  the 
itylsoe^"    ivhole  of   Christendom,  so  sure  also   is   it  that  the 

curreil 

Apart      transformation  of  the  original  form  of  Christianity 

Paul.       jn^0   j^g  universal  form  took  place  outside  of  his 

activity  (proof/  the  Church  at  Rome).     The  Juda- 


PROLEGOMENA.  23 

ism  of  the  diaspora  was  long  since  surrounded  by  a 
retinue  of  half-bred  Grecian  brethren,  for  whom  the 
particular  and  national  forms  of  the  Old  Testament 
religion  were  hardly  existent  (see  VII.).  And,  far- 
ther, this  Judaism  itself  had  begun  to  transform  for 
the  Jews  the  old  religion  into  a  universal  and  spirit- 
ual religion  without  casting  aside  its  forms,  which 
were  rather  considered  significant  symbols  (myster- 
ies). The  Gospel,  being  received  into  these  circles, 
completed  simply  and  almost  suddenly  the  process  of 
spiritualizing  the  old  religion,  and  it  stripped  off  the 
old  forms  as  shells,  replacing  them  at  once  in  part  by 
new  forms  (e.g.,  circumcision  is  circumcision  of  the 
heart,  likewise  also  baptism ;  the  Sabbath  is  the 
glorious  kingdom  of  Christ,  etc.).  The  outward 
withdrawal  from  the  synagogue  is  also  here  a  clear 
proof  of  the  power  and  self -consciousness  of  the  new 
religion.  The  same  developed  itself  rapidly  in  con- 
sequence of  the  hatred  of  the  Jews,  who  adhered  to 
the  old  faith.  Paul  exerted  an  influence,  and  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  cleared  up  entirely  the  ob- 
scurities which  still  remained. 

VI. — The  Current  Exposition  of  the  Old  Tes-  ■ 
tament  and  the  jewish  future  hope,  in 
their  Bearing  on  the  Earliest  Formula- 
tion of  the  Christian  Message. 

1.  Although  the  method  of  the  pedant,  the  casuis-     Exegesis" 

.  _  .  Retained 

tic  handling  of  the  Law  and  the  extortion  of  the  by  church. 


24  OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

deepest  meaning  of  the  prophecies,  had  been  in  prin- 
ciple done  away  with  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  old 
school-exegesis  still  remained  active  in  the  Chris- 
tian churches,  and  especially  the  unhistorical  local- 
method  in  the  exposition  of  the  Old  Testament,  as 
well  as  the  allegoristic  and  the  Haggada ;  for  a  sacred 
text — and  as  such  the  Old  Testament  was  considered 
— ever  invites  men  in  the  exposition  of  it  to  disre- 
gard its  historical  conditions  and  interpret  it  accord- 
ing to  the  needs  of  the  time.  Especially  wherever 
the  proofs  of  the  fulfilment  prophecy,  i.e.,  of  the 
Messiah-ship  of  Jesus  was  concerned,  the  received 
point  of  view  exercised  its  influence,  as  well  upon 
the  exposition  of  the  Old  Testament  as  upon  the 
conception  of  the  person,  fate  and  deeds  of  Jesus. 
It  gave,  under  the  strong  impression  of  the  history 
of  Jesus,  to  many  Old  Testament  passages  a  foreign 
sense  and  enriched,  on  the  other  hand,  the  life  of 
Jesus  with  new  facts,  throwing  the  emphasis  upon 
details,  which  were  often  unreal  and  seldom  of  prime 
importance. 
Jewish  2.  The  Jewish  apocalyptic  literature,  as  it  flour- 

Apo^alyp-  r  J  r 

ttureiSr  isned  after  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  was  not 
forbidden  within  the  circles  of  the  first  believers  of 
the  Gospel,  but  rather  was  it  retained  and  read  as 
an  explanation  of  the  prophecies  of  Jesus  and,  as  it 
were,  cultivated.  Although  the  content  of  the  same 
appeared  modified  and  the  uncertainty  regarding  the 
person  of  the  Messiah  who  was  to  appear  in  judg- 
ment was   done  away  with,  the   earthly  sensuous 


PROLEGOMENA. 


25 


hopes  were  by  no  means  wholly  repressed.  Confused 
pictures  filled  the  fancy,  threatened  to  obscure  the 
plain  and  earnest  description  of  the  judgment  which 
every  individual  soul  is  sure  of,  and  drove  many 
friends  of  the  Gospel  into  a  restless  turmoil  and  into 
a  detestation  of  the  state.  Consequently  the  repro- 
duction of  the  eschatological  discourses  of  Jesus  be- 
came indefinite;  even  things  wholly  foreign  were 
mingled  therewith,  and  the  true  aim  of  the  Christian 
life  and  hope  began  to  waver. 

3.  Through  the  apocalyptic  literature,  the  artificial 
exegesis  and  the  Haggada,  a  mass  of  mythological 
and  poetical  ideas  crowded  into  the  Christian  com- 
munities and  were  legitimized.  The  most  impor- 
tant for  the  succeeding  times  were  the  speculations  in 
regard  to  the  Messiah,  which  were  drawn  in  part 
from  the  Old  Testament  and  the  apocalypses  and  in 
part  were  constructed  in  accordance  with  methods 
whose  right  no  one  questioned  and  whose  adoption 
seemed  to  give  security  to  the  faith.  Long  since  in 
the  Jewish  religion  men  had  given  to  everything 
that  is  and  that  happens  an  existence  within  the 
knowledge  of  God,  but  they  had  in  reality  confined 
this  representation  to  that  only  which  is  really  im- 
portant. The  advancing  religious  thought  had  above 
all  included  individuals  also,  that  is,  the  most  promi- 
nent, within  this  speculation  which  should  glorify 
God,  and  so  a  pre-existence  was  ascribed  also  to  the 
Messiah,  but  of  such  a  nature  that  by  virtue  of  it 
he  abides  with  God  daring  his  earthly  manifesta- 


Mythologi- 
cal  and 
Poetical 
Ideas  Le- 
gitimized. 


Pre-Exist- 
ence  As- 
cribed to 
Messiah. 


26  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

tion.  In  opposition  to  this,  the  Hellenic  ideas  of 
pre-existence  rooted  themselves  in  the  distinguishing 
of  God  and  matter;  spirit  and  flesh.  According  to 
the  same  the  Spirit  is  pre-existent  and  visible  na- 
ture is  only  a  shell  which  it  assumes.  Here  was 
the  soil  for  ideas  about  the  incarnation,  the  assump- 
tion of  a  second  nature,  etc.  In  the  time  of  Christ 
these  Hellenic  ideas  influenced  the  Jewish  and  thus 
both  were  so  spread  abroad  that  even  the  most  prom- 
inent Christian  teachers  adopted  them.  The  relig- 
ious convictions  (see  V.  2),  that,  (1)  the  establish- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth  and  the 
sending  of  Jesus  as  the  perfect  Mediator  was  from 
eternity  the  highest  purpose  in  God's  plan  of  salva- 
tion, that,  (2)  the  glorified  Christ  has  entered  into 
his  own  proper  position  of  God-like  dominion,  that, 
(3)  in  Jesus  God  has  revealed  himself,  and  that  he 
therefore  excels  all  Old  Testament  mediators,  yes, 
the  angel-powers  themselves — these  convictions  were 
so  fixed  (not  without  the  influence  of  Hellenic 
thought)  that  Jesus  pre-existed,  i.e.  that  in  him  a 
heavenly  Being  of  like  rank  with  God,  older  than 
the  world,  yes  even  its  creating  Principle,  has  ap- 
ßeiigious    peared  and  assumed  our  flesh.     The  religious  root  of 

Root  of 

specula-  this  speculation  lay  in  sentences  such  as  I.  Pet.  1, 
20 ;  its  forms  of  statement  were  varied  even  accord- 
ing to  the  intelligence  of  the  teacher  and  his  famil- 
iarity with  the  apocalyptic  theology  or  with  the 
Hellenic  philosophy  of  religion,  in  which  intermedi- 
ate beings  (above  all  the  Logos)  played  a  great  role. 


tion. 


PROLEGOMENA. 


27 


Rise  and 

Spread 

Indistinct. 


Only  the  Fourth  Evangelist — he  hardly  belongs  to 
the  1st  century — saw  with  perfect  clearness  that  the 
pre-earthly  Christ  must  be  established  as  #eo?  wv  iv 
äpffl  itpo$  rov  &e6v,  in  order  not  to  endanger  the  content 
and  significance  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ. 
In  addition  there  prevailed  in  wide  circles  such  con- 
ceptions also  as  recognized  in  a  spiritual  communi- 
cation at  his  baptism  the  equipment  of  the  man 
Jesus  (see  the  genealogies,  the  beginning  of  the 
Gospel  of  Mark)  for  his  office,  or  found  upon  the 
basis  of  Isa.  vii.  in  his  miraculous  birth  (from  a 
virgin)  the  germ  of  his  unique  being.  (The  rise 
and  spread  of  this  representation  is  wholly  indistinct 
to  us ;  Paul  seems  not  to  have  known  it ;  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  2d  century  it  is  almost  universal.) 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  of  great  significance  that 
every  teacher  who  recognized  the  new  in  Christian 
ity  as  religion  ascribed  pre-existence  to  Christ. 

Supplement. — A  reference  to  the  witness  of  proph- 
ecy, to  the  current  exposition  of  the  Old  Testament, 
to  apocalyptic  writings  and  valid  methods  of  specu- 
lation was  not  sufficient  to  clear  up  every  new  point 
which  cropped  out  in  the  statement  of  the  Christian 
message.  The  earliest  brother-hoods  were  enthusias- 
tic, had  prophets  in  the  midst  of  them,  etc.  Under 
such  conditions  facts  were  produced  outright  contin- 
ually in  the  history  (e.g.,  as  particularly  weighty,  Facts  Pro- 
the  ascension  of  Christ  and  his  descent  into  hell). 
It  is  farther  not  possible  to  point  out  the  motive  to 
such  productions,  which  first  only  by  the  creation  of 


Earliest 
Brother- 
hoods En- 
thusiastic. 


28  OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  New  Testament  Canon  reached  a  by  no  means 
complete  end,  i.e.,  now  became  enriched  by  compre- 
hensible mythologumena. 

VII.— The  Religious  Conceptions  and  the  Re- 
ligious Philosophy  of  the  Hellenistic 
Jews  in  Their  Bearing  on  the  Transfor- 
mation of  the  Gospel  Message. 

Religion  of       i.  From  the  remnants  of  Jewish- Alexandrian  lit- 

Diaspora, 

andacos-  erature  (reference  is  also  made  to  the  Sibylline 
Oracles  as  well  as  to  Josephus)  and  from  the  great 
propaganda  of  Judaism  in  the  Grseco-Roman  world, 
it  may  be  inferred  that  there  was  a  Judaism  in  the 
diaspora  to  whose  consciousness  the  cultus  and  the 
ceremonial  law  disappeared  entirely  behind  the  mono- 
theistic worship  of  God  without  images,  behind  the 
moral  instruction  and  the  faith  in  a  future  reward 
beyond.  Circumcision  itself  was  no  longer  abso- 
lutely required  of  those  converted  to  Judaism ;  one 
was  also  satisfied  with  the  cleansing  bath.  The 
Jewish  religion  seemed  here  transformed  into  a  com- 
mon human  morality  and  into  a  monotheistic  cos- 
mology. Accordingly  the  thought  of  the  theocracy 
as  well  as  the  Messianic  hope  grew  dim.  The  latter 
did  not  entirely  fail,  however,  but  the  prophecies 
were  valued  chiefly  for  the  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
Jewish  monotheism,  and  the  thought  of  the  future 
spent  itself  in  the  expectation  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  empire,  of  the  burning  of  the  world  and — 


PROLEGOMENA.  29 

what  is  weightiest — the  general  judgment.  That 
which  is  specifically  Jewish  preserved  itself  under  a 
high  regard  for  the  Old  Testament,  which  was  con- 
sidered as  the  fountain  of  all  wisdom  (also  for  the 
Greek  philosophy  and  the  elements  of  truth  in  the 
non- Jewish  religions).  Many  intelligent  men  also 
observed  punctiliously  the  Law  for  the  sake  of  its 
symbolical  significance.  Such  Jews,  together  with  Prepara- 
their  converts  from  the  Greeks,  formed  a  new  Juda-  ch[*fngn" 
ism  upon  the  foundation  of  the  old.  And  these  pre- 
pared the  soil  for  the  Christianizing  of  the  Greeks, 
as  well  as  for  the  establishment  within  the  empire 
of  a  great  Gentile  Church  free  from  the  Law ;  under 
the  influence  of  Greek  culture  it  developed  into  a 
kind  of  universal  society  with  a  monotheistic  back- 
ground. As  religion  it  laid  aside  the  national  forms, 
put  itself  forward  as  the  most  perfect  form  of  that 
"natural"  religion,  which  the  Stoa  had  discovered. 
But  in  that  way  it  became  more  moralistic  and  lost 
a  part  of  the  religious  energy,  which  the  prophets 
and  psalmists  possessed.  The  inner  union  of  Juda- 
ism and  the  Hellenistic  philosophy  of  religion  indi- 
cates a  great  advance  in  the  history  of  religion  and 
culture,  but  the  same  did  not  lead  to  strong  religious 
creations.  Its  productions  passed  over  into  "  Chris- 
tianity." 

2.  The  Jewish- Alexandrian  philosophy  of  religion     Jewish- 
had  its  most  noted  defender  in  Philo, — the  perfect  JSSphy^of 
Greek  and  the  sincere  Jew,  who  turned  the  religious      phfiaD' 
philosophy   of   his   time   in   the   direction   of    Neo- 


30 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Ascetic 
Virtue. 


Influence 
of  Alexan- 
drian Phi- 
losophy of 
Religion 

Upon 
Christian- 
ity. 


Platonism  and  prepared  the  way  for  a  Christian 
theology,  which  was  able  to  rival  the  philosophy. 
Philo  was  a  Platonist  and  a  Stoic,  but  at  the  same 
time  a  revelation-philosopher;  he  placed  the  final 
end  in  that  which  is  above  reason  and  therefore  the 
highest  power  in  the  Divine  communication.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  saw  in  the  human  spirit  some- 
thing Divine  and  bridged  over  the  contrast  between 
God  and  creature-spirit,  between  nature  and  history, 
by  means  of  the  personal-impersonal  Logos,  out  of 
which  he  explained  religion  and  the  world  whose 
material,  it  is  true,  remained  to  him  wholly  perish- 
able and  evil.  His  ethical  tendencies  had,  therefore, 
in  principle  a  strong  ascetic  character,  however  much 
he  might  guard  the  earthly  virtues  as  relative.  Vir- 
tue is  freedom  from  the  sensuous  and  it  is  made  per- 
fect through  the  touch  of  Divinity.  This  touch  sur- 
passes all  knowledge;  the  latter,  however,  is  to  be 
highly  prized  as  the  way.  Meditation  upon  the 
world  is  by  Philo  dependent  upon  the  need  of  hap- 
piness and  freedom,  which  is  higher  than  all  reason. 
One  may  say  that  Philo  is  therefore  the  first  who, 
as  a  philosopher,  gave  to  this  need  a  clear  expression, 
because  he  was  not  only  a  Greek,  but  also  a  Jew 
imbued  with  the  Old  Testament  within  whose  view, 
it  is  true,  the  synthesis  of  the  Messiah  and  of  the 
Logos  did  not  lay. 

3.  The  practical  fundamental  conceptions  of  the 
Alexandrian  philosophy  of  religion  must,  in  different 
degrees,   have    found    an    entrance  very  early  into 


PROLEGOMENA.  31 

the  Jewish-Christian  circles  of  the  diaspora,  and 
through  the  same  also  into  the  Gentile-Christian ;  or 
rather  the  soil  was  already  prepared  wherever  these 
thoughts  became  widespread.  After  the  beginning 
of  the  2d  century  the  philosophy  of  Philo  also  be- 
came influential  through  Christian  teachers,  espe- 
cially his  Logos-doctrine,  as  the  expression  of  the 
unity  of  religion,  nature  and  history;  and  above  all 
his  fundamental  hermeneutic  principles.  Thesys-  vaientinus 
terns  of  Valentine  and  Orie:en  presuppose  the  system     Presup- 

°        r  rsr  J  pose  Philo. 

of  Philo.  His  fine  dualism  and  allegorical  art  ("the 
Biblical  alchemy ")  became  acceptable  also  to  the 
learned  men  of  the  Church;  to  find  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  the  sacred  text,  in  part  alongside  the 
letter  and  in  part  outside,  was  the  watchword  of 
scientific  Christian  theology,  which  in  general  was 
possible  only  upon  such  a  basis,  since  it  strove,  with- 
out recognizing  a  relative  standard,  to  unify  the 
monstrous  and  discordant  material  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  Gospel,  and  to  reconcile  both  with  the 
religion  and  scientific  culture  of  the  Greeks.  Here 
Philo  was  a  master,  for  he  first  in  the  largest  sense 
poured  the  new  wine  into  the  old  wine-skins — a  pro- 
cedure in  its  ultimate  intention  justified,  since  his- 
tory is  a  unit;  but  in  its  pedantic  and  scholastic 
execution  the  same  was  a  source  of  illusions,  of  un- 
reality and  finally  of  stultification. 


ries. 


32  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

VIII.  —  The  Religious  Disposition  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  in  the  First  Two 
Centuries  and  the  Contemporary  Gr.eco- 
Roman  Philosophy  of  Religion. 

SaoWorid       !•  In  tne  aSe  °f  Cicero  and  Augustus  the  people's 
^ügiOTs    religion  and  the  religious  sense  in  general  was  almost 

in  3d  and  .  . 

;3dCentu-  entirely  wanting  m  cultured  circles,  but  atter  the 
end  of  the  1st  century  of  our  era  a  revival  of  the  relig- 
ious sense  is  noticeable  in  the  Grseco-Roman  world, 
which  affected  all  grades  of  society  and  seemed  after 
the  middle  of  the  2d  century  to  grow  stronger  from 
decennium  to  decennium.  Parallel  with  it  went  the 
not  fruitless  attempt  to  restore  the  old  national  cults, 
religious  usages,  oracles,  et  cetera.  Meanwhile  the 
new  religious  needs  of  the  time  did  not  reach  a  vig- 
orous or  untroubled  expression  through  this  effort, 
which  was  made  in  part  from  above  and  in  part  by 
artificial  means.  The  same  sought,  far  more  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  wholly  changed  conditions  of  the 
times,  to  find  new  forms  of  gratification  (intermin- 
'gling  and  intercourse  of  nations —downfall  of  the  old 
republican  constitutions,  institutions  and  classes — 
monarchy  and  absolutism — social  crises  and  pauper- 
ism— influence  of  philosophy,  religion,  morality  and 
law — cosmopolitanism  and  human  rights — influx  of 
Oriental  cults  —  knowledge  of  the  world  and  sa- 
tiety). Under  the  influence  of  philosophy  a  dispo- 
sition toward  monotheism  was  developed  out  of  the 
downfall  of  the  political  cults  and  the  syncretism. 


PROLEGOMENA.  33 

Religion   and    individual  morality  became  more    Religion 

0  and  Moral  - 

closely  united:  Spiritualization  of  the  cults,  en-  {^nf^e 
nobling  of  man,  idea  of  ethical  personality,  of  con- 
science and  of  purity.  Repentance  and  pardon 
became  of  importance,  also  inner  union  with  the 
Divinity,  longing  for  revelation  {asceticism  and 
mysterious  rites  as  a  means  of  appropriating  the 
Divine),  yearning  after  a  painless,  eternal  life  be- 
yond the  grave  (apotheosis);  the  earthly  life  as  a 
phantom  life  (tyxpdreia  and  wma-aati).  Just  as  in  the 
2d  century  the  moral  swing  was  the  stronger,  so  in 
the  3d  century  the  religious  increased  more  and  more 
— thirst  for  life.  Polytheism  was  not  thereby  over- 
come, but  only  shoved  aside  upon  a  lower  plane, 
where  it  was  as  active  as  ever.  The  numen  supre- 
mum  revealed  its  fulness  in  a  thousand  forms  (demi- 
gods), going  upward  (apotheosis,  emperor  cult, 
"  dominus  ac  deus  noster  ")  and  downward  (mani- 
festations in  nature  and  in  history) .  The  soul  itself 
is  a  super-earthly  being ;  the  ideal  of  the  perfect  man 
and  of  the  Leader  (Redeemer)  was  developed  and 
sought  after.  The  new  remained  in  part  concealed 
by  the  old  cultus  forms,  which  the  state  and  piety 
protected  or  restored;  there  was  a  feeling-around 
after  forms  of  expression,  and  yet  the  wise,  the 
skeptic,  the  pious  and  the  patriot  capitulated  to  the 
cultish  traditions. 

Social  Or- 

2.  The  formation  of  social  organizations,  on  the    t^iz^it 
one  hand,    and    the   founding  of  the  monarchical    £??«?  cos- 

mopolitan- 

world-wide   Roman  empire,   on  the  other,  had  the        ism. 


34 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Stoicism, 
Platonism. 


Neo-Plat- 
onism. 


greatest  significance  as  regards  the  development  of 
something  new.  Everywhere  there  sprang  up  that 
cosmopolitan  feeling,  which  points  beyond  itself, 
there  toward  the  practice  of  charity,  here  toward 
the  uniting  of  mankind  under  one  head  and  the  wip- 
ing out  of  national  lines.  The  Church  appropriated, 
piece  for  piece,  the  great  apparatus  of  the  earthly 
Roman  empire;  in  its  constitution,  perhaps,  it  also 
saw  the  portrayal  of  the  Divine  economy. 

3.  Perhaps  the  most  decisive  factor  in  the  change 
of  the  religious-ethical  attitude  was  the  philosophy, 
which  in  almost  all  its  schools  had  more  and  more 
brought  ethics  forward  and  deepened  the  same. 
Upon  the  soil  of  Stoicism,  Posidonius,  Seneca,  Epic- 
tetus  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  upon  the  soil  of 
Platonism,  men  like  Plutarch  had  achieved  an  ethi- 
cal-outlook, which  in  its  principles  (knowledge,  res- 
ignation, trust  in  God)  was  obscure,  yet  in  some 
particulars  scarcely  admits  of  improvement.  Com- 
mon to  them  all  is  the  great  value  put  upon  the  soul. 
A  religious  bent,  the  desire  for  Divine  assistance, 
for  redemption  and  for  a  life  beyond,  comes  out  dis- 
tinctly in  some  of  them ;  most  clearly  in  the  Neo- 
Platonists  and  those  who  anticipated  them  in  the  2d 
century  (preparation  by  Philo).  Characteristics  of 
this  mode  of  thought  are  the  dualistic  contrasting  of 
the  Divine  and  the  earthly,  the  abstract  idea  of  God, 
the  assertion  of  the  unknowableness  of  God,  skepti- 
cism in  regard  to  sense-experience  and  distrust  of 
the  powers  of  reason ;   at  the  same  time  great  readi- 


PROLEGOMENA.  35 

ness  to  investigate  and  to  utilize  the  results  of  the 
previous  scientific  labors;  and  farther,  the  demand 
for  freedom  from  the  sensuous  through  asceticism, 
the  want  of  an  authority,  belief  in  a  higher  revela- 
tion and  the  fusing  of  religion,  science  and  mythol- 
ogy.    Already  men  began  to  legitimize  the  relig-    Religions 

ious  f antaste  within  the  realm   of   philosophy,  by     Legiti- 
mized. 

reaching  back  and  seizing  the  myths  as  the  vehicle 
of  the  deepest  wisdom  (romanticism).  The  theo- 
sophical  philosophy  which  had  thus  equipped  itself 
was  from  the  standpoint  of  natural  science  and  clear 
thinking  in  many  ways  a  retrogression  (yet  not  in 
all  particulars,  e.g.  the  Neo-Platonic  psychology  is 
far  better  than  the  Stoic) ;  but  it  was  an  expression 
for  the  deeper  religious  needs  and  the  better  self- 
knowledge.  The  inner  life  with  its  desires  was  now 
altogether  the  starting-point  for  all  thought  concern- 
ing the  world.  Thoughts  of  the  divine,  gracious 
Providence,  of  the  kinship  of  all  men,  of  the  common 
fraternal  love,  of  the  ready  and  willing  forgiveness 
of  wrong,  of  the  indulgent  patience,  of  the  insight 
into  their  own  weaknesses  were  no  less  the  product 
of  the  practical  philosophy  of  the  Greeks  for  wide 
circles,  than  the  conviction  of  the  inherent  sinful- 
ness, of  the  need  of  redemption  and  of  the  value  of  a 
human  soul  which  finds  its  rest  only  in  God.     But  Revelation 

^  and  Relig 

men  possessed  no  sure  revelation,  no  comprehensive   j  ^fi^on1" 
and  satisfactory  religious  communion,  no  vigorous 
and  religious  genius  and  no  conception  of  history, 
which  could  take  the  place  of  the  no  longer  valuable 


36  OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

political  history;  men  possessed  no  certitude  and 
they  did  not  get  beyond  the  wavering  between  the 
fear  of  God  and  the  deification  of  nature.  Yet  with 
this  philosophy,  the  highest  the  age  had  to  offer, 
the  Gospel  allied  itself,  and  the  stages  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  Dogma  during  the  first 
five  centuries  correspond  to  the  stages  of  the 
Hellenistic  Philosophy  of  Religion  ivithin  the 
same  period. 


introduc-        As  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  history  of 

tory  Works 

to  History  dogma  the  following  works  are  to  be  especially  com- 

of  Dogma.  °  °  *  y 

mended:  Schürer,  Geschichte  des  jüdischen  Volks 
im  Zeitalter  Jesu  Christi,  2.  Bd.  1885  (English 
translation  published  by  T.  &  T.  Clark).  Weber, 
System  der  altsynagogalen  palästinensischen  The- 
ologie, 1880.  Kuenen,  Volksreligion  und  Weltre- 
ligion, 1883.  Wellhausen,  Abriss  der  Geschichte 
Israel's  und  Juda's  (Skizzen  und  Vorarbeiten,  1. 
Heft,  1884).  Weiss,  Lehrbuch  der  bibl.  Theolo- 
gie, 4.  Aufl.,  1884.  Baldensperger,  Das  Selbstbe- 
wustsein  Jesu  im  Licht  der  messianischen  Hoff- 
nungen seiner  Zeit,  1888.  Leben  Jesu  von  Keim, 
Weiss  and  others  and  the  Einleitungen  in  das  N. 
T.  von  Reuss,  Hilgenfeld,  Mangold,  Holtzmann  und 
Weiss.  Weizsäcker,  Apostolisches  Zeitalter,  1886. 
Renan,  Hist,  des  Orig.  du  Christianisme,  T.  II.- 
IV.  Pfleiderer,  Das  Urchristendum,  1887,  Dies- 
tel,  Geschichte   des   A.    T.    i.   der  christl.    Kirche, 


PROLEGOMENA.  37 

1869,  Siegfried,  Philo  v.  Alex.  1875.  Bigg,  The 
Christian  Platonists  of  Alexandria,  1886.  Die 
Untersuchungen  von  Freudenthal  ('  Hellenistische 
Studien ')  and  Bernays.  Boi  ssier,  La  Religion 
Romaine  d' Auguste  aux  Antonins,  2  vols.,  1874. 
Reville,  La  Religion  ä  Rome  sous  les  Severes, 
1886  (German  by  Krüger  1888).  Friedländer,  Dar- 
stellungen aus  der  Sittengeschichte  Roms  in  der  Zeit 
von  August  bis  zu  Ausgang  der  Antonine,  3.  Bdd. 
5.  Aufl.  Marquardt,  Römische  Staatsverwaltung,  3. 
Bdd.  1878.  Leopold  Schmidt,  Die  Ethik  der  alten 
Griechen,  2  Bdd.  1882.  Heinze,  Die  Lehre  vom 
Logos,  1872.  Hirzel,  LTntersuchungen  zu  Cicero's 
philos.  Schriften,  3  Thle.  1877.  Die  Lehrbücher 
der  Geschichte  der  Philosophie  von  Zeller,  Ueber- 
weg,  Strümpell  and  others, 


part  t, 

THE  RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOGMA. 


BOOK  I. 
THE    PREPARATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

HISTORICAL   SURVEY. 


Gentile- 
Christiau 


THE  first  century  of  the  existence  of  Gentile 
Christian  communities  is  characterized,  (1)  by    c°Suni 
the  rapid  retirement  of  Jewish  Christianity,  (2)  by 
religious  enthusiasm  and  the  strength  of  the  future 
hope,  (3)  by  a   severe  morality  deduced   from  the 
Masters'  teaching,   (4)  by  the   manifold   form  and 
freedom  of  expression  of  belief,  on  the  basis  of  plain 
formulas  and  ever  increasing  tradition,   (5)  by  the  , 
lack  of  a  definite  authority,  in  the  transition  to  a  )( 
recognized  outward  authority  among  the  churches, 
(6)  by  the  lack  of  a  political  connection  among  the 
various  communities,  and  by  an  organization  which 
was  firm  and  yet  permitted  individual  liberty,  (7) 
by  the  development  of  a  peculiar  literary  activity, 
claiming  assent  to  its  newly  produced  facts,  (8)  by 

the  reproduction  of  detached  phrases  and  individual 

39 


40  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

inferences  from  the  apostolical  teaching,  without 
a  clear  understanding  of  the  same,  (9)  by  the  crop- 
ping out  of  those  tendencies  which  served  in  every 
way  to  hasten  the  process  already  begun  of  fusing 
the  Gospel  with  the  spiritual  and  religious  interests 
of  the  time, — with  Hellenism, — as  well  as  by  numer- 
ous attempts  to  wrench  the  Gospel  free  from  its 
native  setting  and  to  introduce  elements  foreign  to 
it.  And  finally,  above  all,  it  belonged  to  the  (Hel- 
lenic) representation  to  consider  knowledge,  not  as 
a  (charismatic)  supplement  to  faith,  but  as  of  like 
/  essence  with  it. 


CHAPTER   II. 

GROUND   COMMON  TO   CHRISTIANS  AND   ATTITUDE 
TAKEN   TOWARD   JUDAISM. 

Beliefs         That  the  great  majority  of  Christians  had  com- 

Common 

totiansis  mon  De^e^s  *s  indicated  by  this  fact,  among  others, 
that  gnosticism  was  gradually  expelled  from  the 
churches.  Assurance  of  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
God,  consciousness  of  responsibility  to  him,  faith  in 
Christ,  hope  in  eternal  life,  exaltation  above  the  pres- 
ent world, — these  were  fundamental  thoughts.  If 
we  enter  into  details  the  following  points  may  be 
noted : 

Gospel.  l.  The  Gospel,  being  founded  upon  a  revelation, 
is  the  reliable  message  of  the  true  God,  the  faithful 
acceptance  of  which  guarantees  salvation ; 


THE   PREPARATION.  41 

2.  The  real  content  of  this  message  is  spiritual  Content  of 

Message. 

monotheism,  the  announcement  of  the  resurrection 
and  eternal  life,  as  well  as  the  proclamation  of  moral 
purity  and  abstinence  on  the  ground  of  repentance 
toward  God  and  of  attested  cleansing  through  bap- 
tism in  remembrance  of  the  reward  of  good  and 
evil; 

3.  This  message  comes  to  us  through  Jesus  Christ,     through 
who  "  in  these  last  days "  is  the  commissioned  Sa- 
viour and  stands  in  a  peculiar  relationship  with  God. 

He  is  the  Redeemer  (<7torrj{))  because  he  has  brought 
full  knowledge  of  God  and  the  gift  of  eternal  life 
(;pa><Tt$  and  £<*>yj,  and  especially  yvtoavs  r^?  £^7^  the  ex- 
pression for  the  summa  of  the  Gospel).  He  is  also 
the  highest  Prototype  of  every  ethical  virtue,  the 
Law-Giver  and  the  Law  of  the  perfect  life,  and 
accordingly  the  Conqueror  of  demons  and  the  Judge 
of  the  world ; 

4.  Virtue  is  abstinence  (a  renunciation  of  the  good    virtue  is 

Abstinence 

things  of  this  world,  in  which  the  Christian  is  a    and  Love, 
stranger,  and   whose  destruction    is   awaited)    and 
brotherly  love; 

5.  The   message   of    the   Christ   is    entrusted    to    E^Sfed 
chosen  men,  to  apostles,  and  more  especially  to  one     toti^os" 
apostle;    their   preaching   is   the   preaching  of  the 
Christ.     Moreover,  the  Spirit  of  God  reproduces  his 

gifts  and  graces  in  the  "  saints, "  and  thus  equips 
special  "prophets  and  teachers,"  who  receive  com 
munications  for  the  edification  of  others ; 

6.  Christian  worship  is  the  offering  of  spiritual    worship. 


42 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Basis  of 
Brother- 
hood. 


Christian- 
ity and 
Judaism. 


sacrifice  without  regard  to  statutory  rites  and  cere- 
monies; the  holy  offices  and  anointings,  which  are 
connected  with  the  Christian  cult,  have  their  virtue 
in  this,  that  spiritual  blessings  are  therewith  im- 
parted ; 

7.  The  barriers  of  sex,  age,  position  and  nation- 
ality vanish  entirely  for  Christians,  as  Christians; 
the  Christian  brotherhood  rests  upon  the  Divine 
election  and  is  organized  through  the  gifts  of  the 
Spirit;  in  regard  to  the  ground  of  election  there 
were  divers  views ; 

8.  Since  Christianity  is  the  only  true  religion  and 
is  not  a  national  religion,  but  belongs  to  all  mankind 
and  pertains  to  our  inmost  life,  it  follows  that  it  can 
have  no  special  alliance  with  the  Jewish  people,  or 
with  their  peculiar  cult.  The  Jewish  people  of  to- 
day, at  least,  stand  in  no  favored  relationship  with 
the  God  whom  Jesus  has  revealed;  whether  they 
formerly  did  is  doubtful;  this,  however,  is  certain, 
that  God  has  cast  them  off,  and  that  the  whole 
Divine  revelation,  so  far  as  there  was  any  revela- 
tion prior  to  Christ  (the  majority  believed  in  one  and 
looked  upon  the  Old  Testament  as  Holy  Scripture) 
had  as  its  end  the  calling  of  a  "  new  nation "  and 
the  spreading  of  the  revelation  of  God  through  his 
Son. 


THE   PREPARATION.  43 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  COMMON  FAITH  AND  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  SELF- 
RECOGNITION  IN  THAT  GENTILE  CHRISTIANITY 
WHICH  WAS   TO   DEVELOP  INTO   CATHOLICISM. 

Sources:  The  writings  of  the  so-called  Apostolic  Fathers, 
inferences  drawn  from  the  Works  of  the  Apologists  of  the  2d 
century  ;  Ritschi,  Entstehung  der  alt-kath.  Kirche,  2.  Ed. 
1857;  Engelhardt,  Das  Christenthum  Justins,  1878;  Pflei- 
derer,  Das  Urchristenthum,  1887. 

1.  The  Christian  Communities  and  the  Church.    Fixing  of 

Outlines 

— Both  the  outlines  and  the  character  of  the  founda-  aact£hof 
tions  of  Christianity  were  fixed  by  those  disciples  of  ity!an 
the  faith,  who  were  members  of  well-ordered  Chris- 
tian communities,  and  who  accepted  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  an  original  Divine  revelation  and  prized 
the  Gospel  tradition  as  a  free  message  for  all,  which 
should  be  kept  faithfully  pure.  Each  little  brother- 
hood should,  through  the  strength  of  its  faith,  the 
certainty  of  its  hope  and  the  holy  ordering  of  its  life, 
as  well  as  through  love  and  peace,  be  an  image  of 
the  holy  Church  of  God,  which  is  in  heaven  and 
whose  members  are  scattered  over  the  earth;  it 
should,  also,  in  the  purity  of  its  daily  life  and  in  the 
genuineness  of  its  brotherly  kindness  be  an  ensample 
to  those  who  are  "without,"  i.e.  to  the  alien  world. 
In  the  recently  discovered  "  Teaching  of  the  Apos- 
tles "  we  come  upon  the  sphere  of  interest  in  those 
communities  who  had  not  yet  been  influenced  by 
philosophical  speculation.     They  awaited  the  return 


44  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

of  the  Christ,  and  urged  a  holy  life  ("  Two  Ways, " 
dependence  of  its  ethical  rules  upon  the  Jewish- Alex- 
andrian gnomic  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount)  and, 
without  outward  union  and  a  common  polity,  they 
recognized  themselves  as  belonging  to  the  new  and 
yet  original  creation  of  God,  to  the  Church,  which 
is  the  true  Eve,  the  Bride  of  the  heavenly  Christ 
(Tertull.  Apolog.  39  :  corpus  sumns  de  conscientia 
religionis  et  disciplinae  imitate  et  spei  foedere  ; 

II.  Clem.  14  :  ~<>l<wvzs$  zo  fttXrjtia  zoo  nazpus  ijfiwv  iffo/iefta 
£/.  T7JS  t/r/.Xrjdiaq  zTtq  -fiwz-qs  zT^  Trvso/iazixrjs,  zrjs  irpu  r^Xioo 
xa\  ffeXri^r^  £xzt(T;j.ivr)$  .  .  .  ixxXrjffia  ^axra  ffäi/id  eazi  Xpi- 
ffzoo  '  Xiyei  yap  y  ypacpij  ■  iitofyffev  6  d-su<$  zuv  avOpwizov  apffev 
xai  $7jXu  •   zu  apazv  lazXv  6  XptffröSj  zu  ft^Xo  rj  ixxX^trcaY 

Founda-         2.   The  Foundations  of  the  Faith,  i.e.  of  the 

tions  of  J 

the  Faith.  confessions  respecting  the  One  God  and  Jesus  and 
also  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  laid  by  the  "  Christian- 

°mentsta"  ^ze(^  "  O^  Testament  Scriptures,  together  with  the 
apocalypses  and  the  ever  increasing  traditions  con- 
cerning the  Christ  (his  ethical  and  eschatological  dis- 
courses, on  the  one  side,  and  the  proclamation  of 
the  history  of  Jesus  on  the  other).  Prophecy  was 
proven  by  theology.     Already  at  an  early  date  short 

ArFa!th  °f  ar^cles  °f  faith  had  been  formulated  (y  icapddom^  6 

7zapadoftz\s  X6yo$,  6  xavibv  zfjs  -apadoGeio?,  zu  X7jpuyrj.a,  ij 
didder},  7)  xi(Jzi$,  6  xavcov  zrj?  izicrzsios,  etc.).      The  church 

at  Rome  had  formulated  before  a.D.  150  the  follow- 
^reed^6    *nS  cree(l,  which  was  the  basis  for  all  future  creeds : 

TiMTZsuu)  ete  0suv  Ttazipa  itavzoxpazopa  •  xai  ei$  Xpiazuv 
'IyfTouv,  uiuv   aozou  zuv  fxuvayev^  zöv  xuptov  yjpwv,  zöv  yewy- 


THE   PREPARATION.  45 

üivra  ix  7zv£up.aTos  dytoo  xat  Mapla$  rrfi  xapftivou,  tov  im 
IIovtioo  IJiXaTiw  GTaüpioftlvTa  xat  ra^hza^  ry  zpfari  i^xipa 
ävaardvTa  ix  vexpwv,  ävaßävza  ei$  rou?  obpavobs,  xaftrjfi^vov  iv 
8s^ca  too  -arp6<$,  o?9ev  epyerat  xplvat  £wvras  xat  vsxpous  ■  xai 
eis   ftveufia    ay tov ,   ayiav    ixxXijetav,   a<peaiv    apapriwy,   uapxös 

ävdaraffiv.  Everything  that  had  been  prophesied  con-  mse  of 
cerning  the  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  Appeal. 
had  been  testified  concerning  him  in  the  primitive 
Gospel,  was  referred  back  to  the  concurrent  teach- 
ing and  testimony  of  the  twelve  apostles  {prfa-xy 
xupiou  ocd  ru)v  ift  d-oGTöhov) .  The  rise  of  this  court  of 
appeal,  which  was  the  beginning  of  the  idea  of 
Catholic  tradition,  is  historically  obscure  and  rests 
upon  an  a  priori.  Of  like  authority,  though  not 
identified  with  it,  is  Paul  with  his  Epistles,  which 
were,  moreover,  diligently  read. 

3.  The  Principal  Elements  of  Christianity  were    Main  Eie- 
faith  in  God,  the  $£0x6™$  and   in  his  Son,  on  the    cnnstian- 

'  '  '  ity. 

ground  of  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  and  of  the  apos- 
tolic attested  teaching  of  the  Lord,  the  discipline  in 
accordance  with  the  standard  laid  down  by  the  Mas- 
ter, baptism  culminating  in  a  common  sacrificial 
prayer,  the  communion  meal,  and  the  certain  hope 
of  the  near  coming  of  Christ's  glorious  kingdom. 
The  confessions  of  faith  were  very  manifold ;  there 
was  not  as  yet  any  definite  doctrine  of  faith ;  imagi- 
nation, speculation  and  the  exclusively  spiritual 
interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament  had  the  widest 
range ;  for  man  must  not  quench  the  Spirit.  In  the 
exercise  of  prayer  the  congregations  expressed  that 


46  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

which  they  possessed  in  God  and  in  Christ ;  and  the 

duty  of  sacrificing  this  world  for  the  hoped-for  future 

Conccp-     appeared  as  the  nractical  side  of  faith  itself.     The 

tions  of  L  r  * 

salvation.  vaiymg  conceptions  of  salvation  grouped  themselves 
about  two  centres,  which  were  only  loosely  con- 
nected ;  the  one  was  fixed  chiefly  by  the  disposition 

cinhasm.  an(j  ^ie  imagination,  the  other  by  the  intellect.  On 
the  one  side,  accordingly,  salvation  was  believed  to 
consist  in  the  approaching  glorious  kingdom  of 
Christ,  which  should  bring  joy  upon  the  earth  to  the 
righteous  (this  realistic  Jewish  conception  was  de- 
rived directly  from  the  apocalypses :  Chiliasm,  and 
hence  the  interest  in  the  resurrection  of  the  physical 
body).     On  the  other  side,  salvation  was  held  to  con- 

Kof  Godge  s*s^  in  a  definite  and  full  knowledge  of  God  (and  the 
world) ,  as  against  the  errors  of  heathenism ;  and  this 
knowledge  disclosed  to  faith  (rwres)  and  hope  the 
gift  of  life  and  all  imaginable  blessings  (less  em- 
phasis was  accoidingly  placed  on  the  resurrection  of 
the  physical  body).  Of  these  blessings  the  brother- 
hood was  already  in  possession  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sin  and  of  righteousness,  in  so  far  as  theirs  was  a 
view!  brotherhood  of  saints.  But  these  two  blessings  ap- 
peared to  be  endangered  as  to  their  worth  by  empha- 
sizing the  moral  point  of  view,  in  accordance  with 
which  eternal  life  is  looked  upon,  for  the  most  part, 
as  the  wages  and  the  reward  of  a  perfect  moral  life 
lived  in  one's  own  strength.  It  is  true  that  the 
thought  was  still  present,  that  sinlessness  rests  upon 
a  new  moral  creation  (the  new  birth)  which  is  real- 


THE   PREPARATION.  47 

ized  in  baptism ;  but  it  was  ever  in  danger  of  being 

crowded  out  by  the  other  thought,  that  there  are  no 

blessings  in  salvation  save  revealed  knowledge  and 

the  eternal  life,  but  rather  only  a  catalogue  of  duties, 

in  which  the  Gospel  is  set  forth  as  the  New  Laiv  (as 

cetic  holiness  and  love) .     The  "  Christianizing  "  of  the    Gospel  as 

New  Law. 

Old  Testament  served  to  promote  this  Greek  concep- 
tion. The  idea,  it  is  true,  was  already  present  that 
the  Gospel,  in  so  far  as  it  is  law  (v6/io$) ,  includes  the 
gift  of  salvation  (v6fj.o$  olvsu  fyyou  ävdyxyjg — vofiog  r^g 
tteuftepia? — Christ  himself  is  the  Law) ;  but  this  rep- 
resentation was  always  doubtful  and  was  gradually 
abandoned.  The  setting  forth  of  the  Gospel  under 
the  conceptions:  yvdxr^  (God  and  world),  Ixayyzlia 
(eternal  life),  v6/io?  (moral  duty),  appeared  as  plain  as 
it  was  exhaustive,  and  in  every  relation  the  mates  was 
held  to  be  confirmed,  since  it  exhibits  itself  in  knowl- 
edge as  well  as  in  hope  and  in  obedience ;  but  in 
reality  it  is  only  mans  t^?  zA^Vco»?,  a  preparation,  be- 
cause the  blessings  of  salvation  (the  ßa<rcXe!a  rob  #eoD 
as  well  as  the  ä<p#ap<ria)  are  conferred  in  the  future. 

la  this  hope  of  the  future,  salvation  is  set  forth 
as  realizing  itself  in  a  brotherhood,  while  in  the 
moral-gnostic  view  it  is  considered  as  an  individ- 
ual possession,  and  reward  and  punishment  are 
represented  as  co-ordinated  with  it,  which  results  in 
emptying  the  conception  of  God  of  its  content.     The  Transition 

r  J       °  1  to  Moral  - 

moral  view  of  sin,  forgiveness  and  righteousness  in       lsm- 
Clement,  Barnabas  and  Polycarp  is  overlaid  by  Pau- 
line phrases  and  formulas ;  but  the  uncertainty  with 


48  OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

which  these  are  quoted  indicates  that  they  were  not 
really  understood.  In  Her  mas  and  II.  Clement  the 
ground  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  is  the  spontaneous 
energizing  fierdvota.  The  wide-spread  idea  that  griev- 
ous sins  could  not  be  forgiven  those  who  had  been 
baptized,  but  that  light  sins  might  be  condoned, 
indicates  the  complete  transition  to  a  barren,  theo- 
retical moralism,  which  was,  however,  still  overlaid 
by  an  apocalyptic  enthusiasm, 
influence        4.  The  Old  Testament  as  the  Soiwce  of  the  Knowl- 

of  Old  J 

Testament.  ea\ge  of  Faith  contributed,  (1)  to  the  development  of 
the  monotheistic  cosmology,  (2)  to.  the  setting  forth  of 
the  proofs  of  prophecy  and  of  the  antiquity  of  Chris- 
tianity ("older  than  the  world"),  (3)  to  the  establish- 
ing of  all  the  ecclesiastical  ideas,  rights  and  cere- 
monies, which  were  considered  necessary,  (4)  to  the 
deepening  of  the  life  of  faith  (Psalms  and  prophetical 
fragments),  (5)  to  the  refuting  of  Judaism  as  a 
nation,  i.e.  to  the  proving  that  this  people  had  been 
cast  off  by  God,  and  that  they  had  either  never  had 
any  covenant  with  him  (Barnabas),  or  had  had  a 
covenant  of  wrath,  or  had  forfeited  their  covenant; 
that  they  had  never  understood  the  Old  Testament  and 
were  therefore  now  deprived  of  it,  if,  indeed,  they 
had  ever  been  in  possession  of  it  (the  attitude  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole  toward  the  Jewish  people  and 
their  history  appears  to  have  been  originally  as  in- 
definite as  the  attitude  of  the  gnostics  toward  the 
Old  Testament) .  Attempts  to  correct  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  to  give  it  a  Christian  sense  were  not  want- 


THE  PREPARATION.  49 

ing ;  in  the  formation  of  the  New  Testament  there 
were  rudimentary  efforts  toward  this  end. 

5.  Faith  Knowledge  was  above  all  a  knowledge      God  is 

Creator, 

of  God  as  the  only  supernatural,  spiritual  and  al-  ^ul?r'  and 

J  r  1     r  Redeemer. 

mighty  Being:  God  is  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of 
the  world  and  is  therefore  the  Lord.  But  inas- 
much as  he  created  the  world  as  a  beautiful,  well- 
ordered  whole  (monotheistic  theory  of  nature)  for 
the  sake  of  man,  he  is  at  the  same  time  the  God 
of  goodness  and  of  redemption  (#eos  aiuT-qp),  and 
only  through  the  knowledge  of  the  identity  of  the 
Creator  and  Redeemer  God  does  faith  in  God  as 
the  Father  reach  its  perfection.  Redemption,  how- 
ever, was  necessary,  because  mankind  and  the  world 
in  the  very  beginning  fell  under  the  dominion  of 
demons.  A  general  and  acceptable  theory  in  re-  Dominion 
gard  to  the  origin  of  this  dominion  did  by  no  means 
exist;  but  the  conviction  was  fixed  and  universal, 
that  the  present  condition  and  course  of  the  world  is 
not  of  God,  but  of  the  devil.  Still,  faith  in  the  al- 
mighty Creator,  and  hope  in  the  restoration  of  the 
earth  did  not  allow  theoretical  dualism  to  make  any 
headway  and  practical  dualism  dominated.     The    practical 

Dualism. 

world  is  good  and  belongs  to  God,  but  the  present 
course  of  it  is  of  the  devil.  Thus  men's  thoughts  os- 
cillated between  the  conception  of  the  world  as  a 
beautiful  and  orderly  whole,  and  the  impression  of 
the  present  evil  course  of  things,  of  the  baseness 
of  the  sensuous  and  of  the  dominion  of  demons  in 

the  world. 
4 


50 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Jesus  is 
Lord  and 

Saviour 
like  God. 


Titles 

Given  to 

Jesus. 


Son  of 
God. 


G.  Faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Redeemer  was 
closely  identified  with  faith  in  God  as  the  Redeemer. 
Jesus  is  zvpto$  and  awrrjp  like  God,  and  the  same 
words  were  often  used  without  indicating  whether 
the  reference  was  to  him  or  to  God ;  for  in  the  Re- 
vealer  and  Mediator  of  salvation  (Jesus) ,  the  Author 
(God)  is  represented  (the  purpose  of  salvation  and 
the  revelation  of  it  coincide) ;  prayer,  however,  was 
made  to  God  through  Christ.  This  title  given  to  Jesus 
("  Christ ")  became  indeed  a  mere  name,  since  there 
was  no  real  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  "  Messiah." 
Therefore  the  Gentile  Christians  were  obliged 
through  other  means  to  find  expressions  for  the  dig- 
nity of  Jesus ;  but  they  possessed  in  the  full  eschato- 
logical  traditions  valuable  reminiscences  of  the  orig- 
inal apprehension  of  the  Person  of  Jesus.  In  the 
confession  that  God  has  chosen  and  specially  pre- 
pared Jesus,  that  he  is  the  "Angel"  and  "Servant" 
of  God,  and  that  he  shall  judge  mankind,  and  simi- 
lar expressions,  other  utterances  were  made  concern- 
ing Jesus,  which  sprang  from  the  fundamental  idea 
that  he  was  the  "  Christ "  called  of  God  and  en- 
trusted with  an  office.  In  addition  there  was  a 
traditional,  though  not  common,  reference  to  him  as 
"The  Teacher." 

The  title  "  Son  of  God  "  (not  "  Son  of  Man  ")  was 
traditional,  and  was  maintained  without  any  waver- 
ing. Out  of  this  grew  directly  the  conception  that 
Jesus  belongs  to  the  sphere  of  God  and  that  one 
must  think  of  him  "  ws  itepi  fteou  "     (II.  Clem.  1).     In 


THE    PREPARATION.  51 

this  phrasing  of  it  the  indirect  theologia  Christi,  in 
regard  to  which  there  was  no  wavering,  found  ex- 
pression in  classical  forms.  It  is  necessary  to  think 
of  Jesus  as  one  thinks  of  God,  (1)  because  he  is  the 
God-exalted  Lord  and  Judge,  (2)  because  he  brought 
true  knowledge  and  life  and  has  delivered  mankind 
from  the  dominion  of  demons,  from  error  and  sin,  or 
will  deliver  them.  Therefore  he  is  ^nj>,  zvpw$,  &ed$ 
fjfiaiv,  dei  filins  ac  dens,  dominus  ac  deus,  but  not  6 
«e<fe.  He  is  "our  Hope,"  "our  Faith,"  the  High- 
Priest  of  our  prayers,  and  "our  Life." 

Starting  from  this  basis  there  were  divers  theories  Theories  of 

Person  of 

in  regard  to  the  Person  of  Jesus,  which  however  all  Jesus, 
bore  a  certain  analogy  to  the  naive  and  the  philo- 
sophical Greek  "  theologies",  but  there  were  no  uni- 
versally accepted  "doctrines".  We  may  distinguish 
here  two  principal  types :  Jesus  was  looked  upon  as 
the  man  whom  God  had  chosen  and  in  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God  (the  Godhead  itself)  dwelt;  he  was, 
in  accordance  with  his  own  testimony,  adopted  by 
God  and  clothed  with  authority  (Adoption  Chris- 
tology) ;  or  Jesus  was  looked  upon  as  a  heavenly 
spiritual  Being  (the  highest  heavenly  spiritual 
Being  next  to  God),  who  became  incarnate  and 
after  the  completion  of  his  work  upon  the  earth 
returned  to  the  heavens   (Pneumatic  Christology ;  Two  chris- 

tolotrics 

the  transition  here  to  the  Logos  Christology  was 
easy).  These  two  different  Christologies  (the  Dei- 
fied man  and  the  Divine  Being  appearing  in  the 
form  of   a  man)   were  however  brought  closely  to- 


52  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

gether  so  soon  as  the  implanted  Spirit  of  God  in 
the  man  Jesus  was  looked  upon  as  the  pre-existent 
Son  of  God  (Hennas) ,  and  so  soon  as  the  title  "  Son 
of  God,"  as  applied  to  that  spiritual  Being,  was 
derived  from  his  (miraculous)  incarnation — both, 
however,  were  maintained.  Notwithstanding  these 
transition  forms  the  two  Christologies  may  be  clearly 
distinguished :  In  the  one  case  the  election  (emphasis 
upon  the  miraculous  occurrence  at  the  baptism)  and 
the  exaltation  to  God  are  characteristic ;  in  the  other, 

Naive  do-  a  naive  docetism ;  for  as  yet  there  was  no  two- 
nature  theory  (Jesus'  divinity  was  looked  upon  as 
a  gift,  or  else  his  human  form  as  a  temporary  taber- 
nacle). The  declaration:  Jesus  was  a  mere  man 
(<pddg  ävOpajTTo?)  was  undoubtedly  from  the  beginning 
and  always  highly  objectionable ;  likewise  was  the 
denial  of  the  "  &  <rapx{" ;  but  the  theories  which  iden- 

NdaHsml0  tifi^cl  the  Person  of  Jesus  with  the  Godhead  (naive 
modalism)  were  not  cast  aside  with  the  same  assur- 
ance. A  formal  theory  of  the  identity  of  God  and 
Jesus  does  not  seem  to  have  been  wide-spread  in  the 
Church  at  large.  The  acceptance  of  the  existence  at 
least  of  one  heavenly,  eternal,  spiritual  Being  close 
to  God  was  demanded  outright  by  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  as  men  understood  them,  so  that  all 
were  constrained  to  recognize  this,  whether  or  not 
they  had  any  basis  for  reconciling  their  Christology 
with  that  heavenly  Being. 

Pneumatic  The  pneumatic  Christology  was  always  found 
ogy.        wherever  men  gave  themselves  to  the  study  of  the 


THE   PREPARATION. 


53 


Old  Testament  and  wherever  faith  in  Christ  as  the 
complete  revelation  of  God  was  the  foremost  thought, 
i.e.  it  is  found  in  all  the  important  and  educated 
Christian  writers  (not  in  Hermas,  but  in  Clement, 
Barnabas,  Ignatius,  etc. ).  Because  this  Christol- 
ogy  seemed  to  be  directly  demanded  by  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  then  expounded,  because  it  alone  united 
and  reconciled  creation  and  redemption,  because  it 
furnished  the  proof  that  the  world  and  religion  have 
the  same  Divine  Source,  because  the  most  esteemed 
primitive  Scriptures  championed  it,  and,  finally,  be- 
cause it  gave  room  for  the  introduction  of  the  Logos- 
speculation,  it  was  the  Christology  of  the  future. 
The  adoption  Christology,  however,  proved  itself  Adoption 
insufficient  over  against  the  consideration  of  the  re-  ogy- 
lation  of  religion  to  the  cosmos,  to  humanity  and 
its  history,  as  well  as  over  against  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. And  the  advocates  of  the  pneumatic  Chris- 
tology did  not  set  it  forth  as  a  doubtful  theologu- 
menon;  their  expositions  of  it  (Clement,  Ignatius, 
Barnabas,  Justin),  on  the  contrary,  indicate  that 
they  could  not  conceive  of  a  Christianity  without 
faith  in  the  divine  spiritual  Being,  Christ.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  the  liturgical  fragments  and  prayers 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  we  find  little  reference 
to  the  pre-existence ;  it  sufficed  that  Jesus  is  now 
the  xupiog  to  whom  prayer  may  be  addressed. 

The  representations  of  the  work  of  Christ.  (Christ    Christ  as 

r  x  Teacher 

as  teacher:   Giving   of    knowledge,  proclaiming  of    an^av" 
the  new  law;  Christ  as  Saviour:  Giving  of  life,  con 


54  OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

quering  of  demons,  forgiving  of  past  sins  in  the  time 
of  error)  were  connected  by  some  (following  current 
tradition,  using  the  Pauline  Epistles)  with  his  death 
and  resurrection,  by  others  they  were  affirmed  with- 
out direct  reference  to  these  facts.  Independent  re- 
flections upon  the  close  union  of  the  saving  work  of 
Christ  with  the  facts  set  forth  in  his  preaching  are 
nowhere  found;  and  yet  the  representation  of  the 
free  endurance  of  suffering,  of  the  cross,  and  of  the 
blood  of  Christ,  was  accepted  in  many  communities 
as  a  holy  mysterium,  in  which  the  deepest  wisdom 
and  power  of  the  Gospel  is  concealed  (Ignatius), 
although  the  death  on  the  cross  and  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  were  by  no  means  everywhere  (as  in  Clement, 
Polycarp  and  Barnabas)  inseparably  joined  together 
(Hermas  knows  nothing  whatever  about  such  a 
union).  The  peculiarity  and  the  individuality  of  the 
work  of  the  historical  Christ  were  moreover  menaced 
by  the  idea  that  Christ  had  been  the  revealer  of  God 
in  the  Old  Testament, 
ateffni-  -^  *ne  ^ac^s  pertaining  to  the  history  of  Jesus, 
G°ivennto  the  real  and  the  imagined,  received  an  exaggerated 
significance  when  reiterated  in  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion and  when  attacked  by  heretics.  To  the  mirac- 
ulous birth,  death,  resurrection,  exaltation  and  return, 
was  added  definitely  now  the  ascension  on  the  40th 
day  and,  less  definitely,  the  descent  into  hell,  while 
the  history  of  the  baptism  was  more  and  more  ig- 
nored. The  reality  of  these  occurrences  was  strongly 
emphasized ;  but  they  had  not  yet  become  "  dogmas" ; 


Facts. 


THE   PREPARATION. 


55 


for  they  were  neither  inseparably  connected  with  the 
idea  of  salvation,  nor  were  they  definitely  outlined, 
nor  was  the  f  antaste  restricted  in  its  artistic  exuber- 
ance. 

7.  That  the  Worship  of  God  should  be  a  pure,  worship, 
spiritual  exercise,  without  ceremonies,  was  taken  for 
granted.  Every  divine  service  was  looked  upon  as 
a  spiritual  offering  (of  thanks)  accompanied  with 
fasting  and  deeds  of  compassionate  love.  The 
Lord's  Supper  (eucharist)  was  held  to  be  an  offering  gi£?e? 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  and  everything 
which  was  associated  with  it  (e.g.  assistance  of 
the  poor)  became  imbued  with  the  idea  of  sacrifice. 
Thenceforward  the  institutional  idea  found  a  wide 
range,  notwithstanding  the  essential  spirituality  of 
worship.  Starting  with  the  idea  of  the  symbolical, 
"  mysteries  "  which  were  so  necessary  to  the  Greeks 
were  soon  established.  Baptism  in  the  name  of  the  Baptism 
Father,  Son  and  Spirit  was  esteemed  as  the  mystery 
through  which  the  sins  of  blindness  are  wholly  set 
aside,  and  which  only  thenceforward,  however, 
imposes  obligations  (mortal  sins,  committed  after 
baptism,  were  considered  unpardonable,  and  yet 
pardoning  power  was  reserved  for  God  who  here 
and  there  exercises  it  upon  the  earth  through  in- 
spired men.  The  idea  and  practice  of  a  "sec- 
ond repentance"  were  born  through  the  stress  of 
necessity,  became  however  wide-spread,  and  were 
then  established  by  the  prophetical  book  of  Hermas). 
Baptism  was  called  <T<ppay{$  and  <pa>Tt<Tß6s  (no  infant 


56 


OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Realism 
and  Sym- 
bolism. 


Church  Or- 
ganization. 


baptism);  the  uniting  of  baptism  with  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  became  somewhat  uncertain.  The 
Lord's  Supper  was  viewed  as  <pa.pii.axov  äftovaaLas,  as 
a  mysterious  communication  of  gnosis  and  of  life 
(see  the  eucharistic  prayer  in  the  Didache;  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  is  not  there  mentioned) ;  it  was  at 
once  a  communion  meal  and  a  sacrificial  meal. 
Realism  and  symbolism  were  here  mingled  together, 
just  as  were  the  ideas  of  grace  and  of  sacrificial 
offering.  Hellenic  conceptions  early  crowded  in  here 
(see  Ignatius,  Justin,  Apol.  I.,  the  close). 

Church  organization,  as  such,  exercised  no  in- 
fluence upon  the  form  of  the  statement  of  belief  until 
about  the  year  150.  And  yet  the  high  esteem  in 
which  the  apostles,  prophets  and  teachers  were  held 
laid  the  foundation  for  future  developments ;  besides, 
Ignatius  had  already  declared  that  the  attitude 
toward  the  bishop  determined  the  attitude  toward 
God  and  toward  Christ,  and  other  teachers  insisted 
that  one  must  follow  the  "ancients",  the  disciples 
of  the  apostles,  in  all  things. 


system11!*       This  survey  indicates  that  the  decisive  premises 
inEmbryo.   for  the  evolution  of  the  Catholic  system  of  doctrine 
were  already  in  existence  before  the  middle  of  the  2d 
century  and  before  the  heated  contest  with  gnosti- 
cism. 

The  records  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  1st  century  of  the  Gentile  Church  are  of  a  very 


THE   PREPARATION. 


57 


varied  character  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  his- 
tory of  dogma.  In  the  Diclache  we  have  a  catechism 
for  the  Christian  life,  dependent  upon  a  Jewish- 
Greek  catechism,  and  bringing  out  in  the  prayers 
and  ecclesiastical  discipline  that  which  is  specifically 
Christian.  The  Barnabas-Epistle,  probably  of  Al- 
exandrian origin,  teaches  the  correct  (Christian) 
interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament,  casts  aside 
verbal  interpretation  and  Judaism  as  of  the  devil, 
and  follows  Paul  essentially  as  regards  Christology. 
The  same  Christology  is  represented  in  the  Roman 
1.  Clement- Epistle,  which  also  contains  Pauline 
reminiscences  (in  regard  to  atonement  and  justifi- 
cation), but  these  are  conceived  from  the  moral 
standpoint.  It  is  classically  represented  in  Her  mas 
Pasto?*  and  in  the  11.  Clement- Epistle,  where  the 
eschatological  element  is  also  very  prominent.  The 
Christology  of  the  former  is  the  adoption;  the 
author  of  the  II.  Clem.  Epist.  has  no  consistent 
Christology,  but  follows  various  motives.  The  the- 
ology of  Ignatius  is  the  most  advanced,  in  so  far  as 
he,  in  the  contest  with  the  gnostics,  made  the  facts 
of  salvation  prominent  and  drew  his  own  gnosis 
from  the  history  of  Christ  rather  than  from  the  Old 
Testament.  He  sought  to  make  Jesus  Christ,  xarä 
xvsußa  and  xarä  adpxa,  the  centre  of  Christianity.  The 
Epistle  of  Polycarp  is  characteristic  on  account  of  its 
dependence  upon  earlier  Christian  writings  (Paul's 
Epistles,  I.  Peter,  I.  John),  and  on  account  of  its 
conservative  attitude  toward  the  most  valuable  tra 


Didache. 


Barnabas- 
Epistle. 


I.  Cle- 
ment. 


Hernias 
Pastor, 
II.  Cle- 
ment. 


Jp+Äir 


Polycarp 
Epistle. 


58  OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Praedicatio  ditions.    The  Prcedicatio  Petri  marks  the  transition 

Petri. 

from  the  primitive  Christian  literary  activity  to  the 
apologetic  writers  (Christ  as  v6ßo$  and  Aopo?). 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  ATTEMPT  OF  THE  GNOSTICS  TO  CONSTRUCT  AN 
APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE  OF  FAITH  AND  TO  PRO- 
DUCE A  CHRISTIAN  THEOLOGY ;  OR,  THE  ACUTE 
SECULARIZATION  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

Sources :  The  writings  of  Justin  and  the  early  Catholic 
Fathers,  together  with  Epiphanius  and  Theodoret.  Frag- 
ments collected  by  Hilgenfeld,  Ketzergesch,  1884.  Descrip- 
tions by  Neander,  Gnostische  System,  1818,  Baur,  Gnosis, 
1835,  Lipsius,  Gnosticismus,  1860,  Moeller,  Kosmologie  in 
der  griech.  Kirche,  1860 ;  vide  also  Renan,  Hist.  des.  Orig. 
du  Christian isme  ",  T.  V.-VII. 


Gnosti-         1-  Gnosticism  is  a  manifestation  of  the  great  syn- 
w^m'       cretic  movement  of  the  2d  and  3d  centuries,  which 
was  occasioned  by  the  interchange  of  national  relig- 
ions, by  the  contact  of  Orient  and  Occident,  and  by 
the  influence  of  Greek  philosophy  upon  religion  in 
Aims  at  a    general.     It  aimed  at  the  winning  of  a  world-reliq- 

World-Re-     °  . 

ligion.  {on^  jn  which  men  should  be  rated,  not  on  the  basis 
of  citizenship,  but  according  to  the  standard  of  their 
intellectual  and  moral  aptitude.  The  Gospel  was  rec- 
ognized as  a  world-religion  only  in  so  far  as  it  could 
be  severed  from  the  Old  Testament  religion  and  the 
Old  Testament,  and  be  moulded  by  the  religious 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks  and  grafted  upon  the 
existing  cultus-wisdom  and  practice  of  occult  mys- 


THE   PREPARATION.  50 

teries.     The  means  by  which  this  artificial  union 

A 

Method 


was  to  be  brought  about  was  the  allegorical  method  Allegorical 


as  used  long  since  by  the  Greek  religious  philoso 
phers.     The  possibility  of  the  rise  of  a   Christian 
gnosticism  lay  in  this,  that  the  Christian  commu- 
nities had  everywhere  fallen  heir  to  the  heritage  of 
the  Jewish  propaganda,  where  there  was  already  an      Jewish 
exuberant  tendency  to  spiritualize  the  Old  Testament        cla- 
religion,  and  where  the  intellectual  interest  in  relig- 
ion had  long  been  unbridled.     Besides,  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  and  especially  Christ  himself,  had  made  such 
an   overwhelming  impression  that   men  were   pos- 
sessed by  the  strongest  impulse  to  subordinate  their 
highest  conceptions  to  him,  whence,  as  so  often,  the    christian 
"victus  victori  legem  dat"  attained  its  right.     Fi- 
nally the  Christian  preaching  from  the  beginning 
promised  a  gnosis   of  the  wisdom   of    God,    espe 
cially  that  of  Paul  an  antinomian  gnosis,  and  the 
churches   in    the  empire    conceived    the   Christian 
wisdom  as  Xoftxi)  Xarpzia,  in   accordance  with   their 
Greek  conceptions;   they  combined  the  mysterious 
with  a  marvellous  openness,  the  spiritual  with  the 
most  significant    rites,  and    sought    in   this   way,    Mysterious 

Rites 

through  their  organization  and  through  their  "phil- 
osophical life",  to  realize  that  ideal  for  which  the 
Hellenic  religious  spirit  was  then  striving, — namely, 
a  communion,  or  fellowship,  which,  upon  the  basis 
of  a  Divine  revelation,  comes  into  the  possession  of 
the  highest  knowledge  and  therefore  realizes  the 
holiest  life,  and  which  communicates  this  knowledge, 


60  OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

not  through  rational  discussion,  but  through  mys- 
terious, efficacious  consecrations  and  revealed  doc- 
trines, 
stageof  2-  We  are  now  prepared  to  assert,  that  in  gnos- 
ticism the  acute  stage  of  a  process  was  reached, 
which  began  early  in  the  Church  and  which  under- 
went a  slow  and  distinct  evolution  under  the  Catho- 
lic system.  The  gnostics  were  the  theologians  of 
the  1st  century;  they  were  the  first  to  transform 
Christianity  into  a  system  of  doctrines  (dogmas); 
they  were  the  first  to  treat  tradition  and  the  primitive 
Christian  Scriptures  systematically ;  they  undertook 
to  set  forth  Christianity  as  the  absolute  religion,  and 
they  therefore  placed  it  in  opposition  to  the  other  re- 
ligions, to  that  of  the  Old  Testament  as  well  (not  alone 
to  Judaism) ;  but  the  absolute  religion,  which  they 
coupled  with  Christ,  was  to  them  essentially  identical 
with  the  results  of  the  philosophy  of  religion,  for  which 
they  had  now  found  the  basis  in  a  revelation :  They 
Attempt  to  were  accordingly  a  class  of    Christians  who  essayed 

Fuse 

Citriandn"    through  a  sharp  onset  to  conquer  Christianity  for 
Hellenism,   jjelleiiic  culture,  and  Hellenic  culture  for  Christian- 
ity, and  they  thereby  abandoned  the  Old  Testament 
in  order  to  fitly  close  up  the  breach  between  the  two 
christian-    opposing  forces.     Christianity  became  an  occult  the- 
cukTneos-  os°phy  (revealed  metaphysics  and  apparition  philos- 
ophy*       ophy,  permeated  with  the  Platonic  spirit  and  with 
Pauline  ideas,  constructed  out  of   the  material  of 
an  old  cultus-wisdom  which  was  acquired  through 
mysteries  and  the  illumined  understanding,  defined 


THE   PREPARATION.  61 

by  a  keen  and,  in  part,  true  criticism  of  the  Old 
Testament  religion  and  the  scant  faith  of  the  Church. 
Consequently  one  is  obliged  to  verify  in  the  promi- 
nent gnostic  schools  the  Semitic  cosmological  prin- 
ciples, the  Hellenic  philosophical  ideas  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  redemption  of  the  world  through 
Christ.  And  one  must  also  take  account  of  these 
three  factors:    The  speculative    philosophical,    the      Three 

x  sictjors. 

cultish-mystical  and  the  dualistic -ascetic.  The  con- 
junction of  these  elements,  the  entire  transformation 
of  every  ethical  problem  into  a  cosmoloencal  prob- 
lemand,  nnally,  the  view  that  human  history  is 
but  a  continuation  of  natural  history,  especially  that 
redemption  is  but  the  last  act  in  the  drama  which 
had  its  origin  in  the  Godhead  itself  and  its  develop- 
ment in  the  world — all  these  are  not  peculiar  to 
gnosticism,  but  a  stage  in  the  general  development 
which  was  in  many  ways  related  to  Philonism  and 
which  anticipated  Neo-Platonism  and  Catholicism. 
Out  of  the  crass  mythology  of  an  Oriental  religion, 
by  the  transformation  of  the  concrete  forms  into 
speculative  and  ethical  ideas,  such  as  "  Abyss",  "  Si- 
lence", "Logos",  "Wisdom",  "Life"  (the  Semitic 
names  were  often  retained),  there  was  formed  a  my- 
thology of  notions  in  which  the  juxtaposition  and  the 
number  of  these  ideas  were  determined  by  the  pro- 
pounding of  a  scheme.  Thus  was  produced  a  philo-  philosoph- 
ic Dramat- 

sophical,  dramatico-poetic  representation  similar  to    ic^^c 
the  Platonic,  but  far  more  complicated  and  therefore 
more  fantastical,  in  which  those  mighty  powers,  the 


62 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Gospel 
History- 
Allegori- 
cal. 


spiritual  and  the  good,  appeared  to  have  been  brought 
into  an  unholy  alliance  with  the  material  and  the 
base,  from  which  however  finally  the  spiritual,  as- 
sisted by  kindred  powers  which  are  too  exalted  ever 
to  be  abased,  is  after  all  rendered  free.  The  good 
and  the  heavenly  which  is  degraded  to  the  material 
is  the  human  spirit;  and  the  sublime  Power  which 
sets  it  free  is  the  Christ.  .The  Gospel  history  is  not 
the  history  of  Christ,  but  a  collection  of  allegorical 
representations  of  the  great  Divine  world-history. 
Christ  has  in  truth  no  history;  his  appearance  in 
this  world  of  confusion  and  delusion  is  his  own  act 
and  the  enlightenment  of  the  £  pirit,  as  regards  itself, 
is  the  effect  of  this  act.  _This  illumination  itself  is 
life,  but  it  is  dependent  upon  asceticism  and  upon  a 
surrender  to  the  mysteries  ordained  by  Christ,  in 
which  one  comes  into  communion  with  a  praesens 
numen,  and  which  in  a  mysterious  way  gradually  free 
the  spirit  from  the  world  of  sense.  This  spiritualiz- 
ing process  should  also  be  actively  cultivated.  Absti- 
Watch-cry.  ence  jg  therefore  the  watch-cry.  Christianity  is 
1  accordingly  a  speculative  philosophy  which  redeems 
the  spirit  (yväais  ao^pla^)^  inasmuch  as  it  enlight- 
ens and  consecrates  it  and  directs  it  unto  the  true 
way  of  life.  The  gnosis  is  free  from  the  rational- 
istic interest  of  the  stoa.  The  powers  which  give 
vigor  and  life  to  the  spirit  rule  in  the  supersensible 
world.  The  only  guide  to  this  world  is  a  pdftrjats 
(not  exact  philosophy)  resting  upon  a  revelation  and 
allied  with  ;w<7raycoyia.     The  fundamental  principles 


Absti- 
nence the 


THE   PREPARATION.  63 

are  accordingly  the  following:    (1)  The  supersensi-     Funda- 
mental 

ble,  indefinite  and  eternal  nature  of  the  divine  pri-  Principies. 
mordial  Being,  (2)  the  evil  (not  real)  matter  opposed 
to  the  divine  Being,  (3)  the  plenitude  of  the  divine 
powers  (eons)  which,  viewed  partly  as  powers,  partly 
as  real  ideas,  partly  as  relatively  independent  beings, 
represent  in  stages  the  development  and  revelation 
of  the  Divinity,  but  which  at  the  same  time  are 
intended  to  make  possible  the  transition  from  the 
higher  to  the  lower,  (I)  the  cosmos  as  a  mixture  of 
matter  with  sparks  of  the  divine  Being,  and  which 
originated  from  the  descent  of  the  latter  into  the 
former,  i.e.  from  a  reprehensible  undertaking  of  a 
subordinate  spirit,  merely  through  the  Divine  suf- 
ferance, (5)  the  freeing  of  the  spiritual  elements  from 
their  union  with  matter,  or  the  separation  of  the 
good  from  the  sensuous  world  through  the  Christ- 
Spirit,  which  is  active  in  holy  consecrations,  knowl- 
edge and  asceticism — thus  arises  the  complete  gnos- 
tic, the  independent  world-free  spirit,  who  lives  in 
God  and  prepares  himself  for  eternity.  The  rest  of 
mankind  are  earth-born  (hylikers).  Yet  leading  ^ndP?8- 
teachers  (School  of  Valentinus)  distinguish  also  be- 
tween hylikers  and  psyohikers ;  the  latter  were  the 
doers  of  the  law,  who  lived  by  law  and  faith,  for 
whom  the  common  faith  is  good  enough,  that  is, 
necessary.  The  centre  of  gravity  of  the  gnostic 
system  did  not  rest  in  its  changing  details,  which 
are  so  imperfectly  known  to  us,  but  in  its  aim  and 
in  its  postulates. 


chikers. 


64 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Phases  of        3.  The  phases  of  gnosticism  were  as  variegated  as 

Gnosti- 

possible  (brotherhoods,  ascetic  orders,  cultus  of  mys- 
teries, secret  schools,  free  devotional  associations, 
performances  by  Christian  swindlers  and  betrayed 
betrayers,  attempts  to  establish  new  religions  after 
the  pattern  and  under  the  influence  of  the  Christian 
religion).  Accordingly  the  relation  of  gnosticism 
to  that  which  was  common  to  all  Christians  and  to 
the  individual  Christian  communities  was  exceed- 
ingly varied.  On  the  one  hand,  gnosticism  pene- 
trated to  the  very  heart  of  those  Christian  churches 
in  which  docetic  and  dualistic-ascetic  influences 
were  largely  at  work  and  where  there  was  a  strong 
tendency  to  vary  the  original  form  of  the  kerygma ; 
on  the  other  hand,  there  were  gnostic  communities 
that  remained  apart  and  indeed  abhorred  all  alliances 
with  others.  For  the  history  of  dogma  the  right 
wing  of  gnosticism  and  the  real  stem,  the  great 
gnostic  school  sects  (Basilidians,  Valentinians)  come 
especially  under  consideration.  The  latter  wished 
to  establish  a  higher  order  of  Christians  above  the 
common  psychikers,  who  were  barely  endured.  The 
contest  was  mainly  with  these  and  they  were  the 
'The  First  theologians  from  whom  later  generations  learned 
gians.  ancj  were  $ie  first  to  write  elementary  works  on 
dogmatics,  ethics,  and  scientific  and  exegetical  trea- 
tises; in  short,  they  laid  the  foundations  of  Chris- 
tian theological  literature  and  began  the  elaboration 
of  Christian  tradition.  The  expulsion  of  these  gnos- 
tics and  of  the  right  wing  (Encratites,  "Docetse," 


I     Basilid- 
i  ians,  Val- 
entinians. 


THE   PREPARATION.  65 

Tatian)    could  be  accomplished  only  slowly  and   it  Encratites, 
was  a  result  of  the  consolidating  of  the  Christian     Tatian. 
communities  into  the  Catholic  Church  which  was 
called  forth  by  this  gnostic  movement. 

The  rise  of  gnosticism  is  fully  explained  from  the    Expiana- 

|  tionsof 

general  conditions  under  which  Christian  preaching  # JS^. 
flourished  on  Roman  soil  and  from  its  own  attraction 
as  a  sure  announcement  of  knowledge,  life  and  dis- 
cipline, attributed  directly  to  a  Divine  Person  who 
had  appeared  upon  the  earth.  The  Church  fathers 
hold  distracted  Judaism,  together  with  the  demons, 
responsible  for  its  rise ;  later  they  attribute  it  to  the 
Samaritan  messiah,  Simon,  then  to  the  Greek  phi-  Simon  Ma- 

7  7  *  gus. 

losophers,  and  finally  to  those  who  show  themselves 
disobedient  to  ecclesiastical  discipline.  In  all  this 
there  was  aparticula  veri  as  may  be  easily  shown; 
the  syncretism  which  led  to  this  Christian  gnos- 
ticism undoubtedly  had  one  of  its  principal  centres 

in  Samaritan-Syrian  territory  and  the  other  in  Alex-     Samaria 
j  *  ana  Alex- 

andria ;  but  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  con-     andria- 

ditions  were  everywhere  present  in  the  empire  for  a 
spontaneous  development.     On  that  account  it  is  im- 
possible to    write  a  history  of  the  development  of 
gnosticism,  and  it  would  be  so,  even  if  we  knew 
more  than  we  do  about  the  particular  systems.     We    ^'Juan 
can  distinguish  only  between  Jewish-Christian  and    tne-cnrFs- 
Gentile- Christian  gnostics,  and  can  group  the  latter       tics. 
only  according  to  their  greater  or  less  departure  from 
the  common  Christian  faith  as  exemplified  in  their 
varying  attitude  toward  the  Old  Testament  and  the 


66  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

demiurge,  and  then  seek  out  of  this  to  form  from  an 
unbiased  reading  of  the  Christian  writings  an  idea 
of   "gnostic."      That   the  entire  many-sided  move- 

Heiienism.  ment,  in  which  Hellenism,  with  all  its  good  and  bad 
qualities,  sought  to  adapt  the  Gospel,  should  gradu- 
ally become  a  Christian,  or,  rather,  an  ecclesiastical 
movement,  lay  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  But  it  is 
not  therefore  possible  to  group  the  systems  in  the 
2d  century  chronologically  according  to  a  Christian 
standard,  since  attempts  like  that  of  Carpocrates  be- 
long to  the  earlier  and  not  to  the  later  times. 

Difference       4.  Although  the  differences  between  gnostic  Chris- 

between 

Gnostic     tianity  and  the  common  ecclesiastical  faith,  as  well 

Christian-  J 

common  as  the  later  ecclesiastical  theology,  appear  in  part 
fleeting,  in  so  far  as  in  the  latter  also  the  question 
of  knowledge  was  especially  emphasized  and  the 
Gospel  was  being  transformed  into  a  system  of  com- 
plete knowledge  in  order  to  subdue  the  world,  and  in 
so  far  as  the  manq  was  made  subordinate  to  the 
yvajfft?  and  Greek  philosophy  was  more  and  more 
employed,  and  in  so  far  as  eschatology  was  restricted, 
docetic  views  allowed  free  play  and  a  rigid  ascetism 
prized;  yet  it  is  true,  (1)  that  at  the  time  when 
gnosticism  was  most  flourishing  all  these  were  found 
in  the  Church  at  large  only  in  germinal,  or  frag- 
mentary form,  (2)  that  the  Church  at  large  held  fast 
to  the  settled  facts  contained  in  the  baptismal  con- 
fession and  to  the  eschatological  expectations,  retain- 
ing its  belief  also  in  the  Creator  as  the  Supreme 
God,  in  the  oneness  of  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  Old 


THE    PREPARATION.  67 

Testament,  thus  rejecting  dualism,  (3)  that  the 
Church  maintained  the  unity  and  the  parity  of  hu- 
man kind  and  therefore  the  simplicity  and  universal 
tendency  of  the  Christian  salvation,  and  (4)  that  it 
opposed  ever}"  attempt  to  introduce  new,  Oriental 
mythologies,  guided  in  this  by  the  early  Christian 
consciousness  and  a  certain  independent  judgment. 
However,  the  Church  in  its  contest  with  gnosticism 
learned  a  great  deal  from  it.     The  principal  points    principal 

•  it  •  •    n  Points  un- 

WlllCn  were  under  discussion  may  be  briefly  sum-  der  Discus- 

J  J  sion. 

marized  as  follows  (the  word  "  positive  "  appended  to 
a  gnostic  proposition  indicates  that  the  doctrine  had 
a  positive  influence  in  the  development  of  the 
Church  view  and  doctrine)  :  (1)  Christianity,  which 
is  the  only  true  and  absolute  religion,  contains  a  re- 
vealed system  of  doctrine  (pos.),  (2)  the  Revealer  is 
Christ  (pos.),  but  Christ  alone,  and  Christ,  only  so 
far  as  he  was  made  manifest  (no  O.  T.  Christ). 
This  manifestation  is  itself  the  redemption, — the 
teaching  is  the  proclamation  of  this  and  of  the  nec- 
essary presuppositions  (pos.),  (3)  the  Christian  teach- 
ing is  to  be  deduced  from  the  apostolic  tradition 
critically  treated ;  the  same  is  found  in  the  apostolic 
writings  and  in  an  esoteric  doctrine  transmitted 
by  the  apostles  (pos.);  as  an  open  doctrine  it  is  con- 
densed in  the  regula  ficlei  (pos.),  as  an  esoteric  doc- 
trine it  is  transmitted  by  appointed  teachers,  (4)  the 
primitive  revelation  (apostolic  Scriptures) ,  even  be- 
cause it  is  such,  must  be  expounded  by  means  of  the 
allegory,  in  order  to  draw  out  its  deeper  meaning 


68 


OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Disparity 
between 
Supreme 
God  and 
Creator. 


Distin- 
guishing 
Supreme 
God  from 

God  of 

O.  T. 


Eternity  of 
Matter. 


World 
Product  of 
Intermedi- 
ate or  Evil 

Being. 


Evil  Inher- 
ent in 
Matter  and 
a   Physical 
Agency. 


Eons. 


Christ  Re- 
veal er  of 
Unknown 
God. 


Jesus, 

Heavenly 

Eon. 


(pos.),  (5)  as  to  the  separate  portions  of  the  regula 
as  the  gnostics  understood  them,  the  following  are 
to  be  especially  noted : 

(a)  The  disparity  between  the  supreme  God  and 
the  Creator  of  the  world,  and  the  consequent  contrast 
of  redemption  and  creation,  i.e.,  the  separation  of 
the  mediator  of  revelation  and  the  mediator  of  crea- 
tion, 

(b)  the  distinguishing  of  the  Supreme  God  from 
the  God  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  consequent 
rejection  of  the  O.  T. ;  i.e.  the  declaration  that  the 
O.  T.  does  not  contain  a  revelation  of  the  Supreme 
God,  unless  it  be  in  certain  parts, 

(c)  the  doctrine  of  the  absoluteness  and  eternity  of 
matter, 

(d)  the  affirmation  that  the  present  world  came 
into  existence  through  a  fall  into  sin,  i.e.  through 
an  undertaking  antagonistic  to  God,  and  that  it  is 
therefore  the  product  of  an  evil,  or  intermediate 
being, 

(e)  the  doctrine  that  evil  is  inherent  in  matter  and 
is  a  physical  agency, 

(f)  the  acceptance  of  eons,  i.e.  of  real  powers  and 
heavenly  persons,  in  whom  the  absoluteness  of  the 
Divinity  unfolds  itself, 

(g)  the  affirmation  that  Christ  proclaimed  a  hith- 
erto unknown  Divinity, 

(h)  the  doctrine  that  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  heavenly 
Eon — the  gnostics  rightly  saw  redemption  in  his 
Person,  but  they  reduced  his  Person  to  a  mere  self- 


THE   PREPARATION.  69 

existent  Being — Christ  and  the  human  manifestation 
of  him  are  to  be  clearly  distinguished  and  to  each 
nature  a  "  distincte  agere"  was  to  be  given  (not 
docetism,  but  the  two-nature  doctrine  is  character- 
istic). Accordingly  some,  as  Basilides,  recognized  Basiiides. 
no  real  union  whatever  between  Christ  and  the  man 
Jesus,  whom  they  otherwise  accepted  as  a  real  man. 
Others,  as  a  portion  of  the  Valentinians — their  Chris-    vaientin- 

L  ians. 

tology  was  exceedingly  complicated  and  varied —  \ 
taught  that  the  body  of  Jesus  was  a  heavenly-psychi- 
cal form,  and  that  it  only  apparently  came  forth 
from  the  womb  of  Mary.  Others  finally,  like  Sator-  satomii. 
nil,  explained  that  the  entire  visible  manifestation  of 
Christ  was  only  a  phantasma,  and  hence  they  ques- 
tioned the  reality  of  his  birth, 

(i)  the  transformation  of  the  kxztyaia  (that  the  ggJ^JJJ 
heavenly  Church  was  looked  upon  as  an  eon  was  matikeS. 
nothing  new)  into  the  collegium  of  the  pneuma- 
tikers,  who  alone  shall  enjoy  the  highest  blessedness, 
while  the  hylikers  shall  suffer  destruction  and  the 
psychikers  with  their  4>di)  ictmtf  shall  obtain  only  an 
inferior  blessedness, 

(k)  the  rejection  of  the  whole  of  primitive  Chris-  Rfef fj^11 
tian  eschatology,  especially  the  return  of  Christ  and  J}™  Escha- 
the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  with  this  was  coupled 
the  affirmation  that  in  the  future  one  should  expect 
only  the  freeing  of  the  spirit  from  the  veiled  life  of 
the  senses,  while  the  spirit  itself  is  enlightened  and 
assured  of  God  and  already  possesses  immortality 
and  only  awaits  an  entrance  into  the  pleroma, 


tology. 


Dualistic 
Ethics. 


70  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

(1)  the  dualistic  ethics  (rigid  ascetism)  which  here 
and  there  may  have  veered  over  into  libertinism. 

How  strongly  gnosticism  anticipated  Catholicism 
becomes  apparent  especially  from  its  Christology  and 
its  doctrine  of  redemption,  from  its  magic-cult  and 
its  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  and  from  its  scientific 
literature. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARCION'S  ATTEMPT  TO  SET  ASIDE  THE  OLD  TES- 
TAMENT AS  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL, 
TO  PURIFY  TRADITION,  AND  TO  REFORM  CHRIS- 
TIANITY ON  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  PAULINE  GOS- 
PEL. 

Marcion's        Marcion  should  not  be  classed  with  gnostics  like 

Guiding  ° 

Principles.  Basilides  and  Valentinus;  for  (1)  he  was  guided  by 
no  metaphysical,  also  by  no  apologetical,  but  only 
by  a  purely  soteriological  interest,  (2)  he  therefore 
placed  the  whole  emphasis  upon  the  pure  Gospel  and 
upon  faith  (not  upon  knowledge),  (3)  he  did  not  em- 
ploy philosophy — at  least  not  as  a  main  principle — 
in  his  conception  of  Christianity,  (4)  he  did  not  en- 
deavor to  found  schools  of  philosophers,  but  to  re- 
form, in  accordance  with  the  true  Pauline  Gospel, 
the  churches  whose  Christianity  he  believed  to  be 
legalistic  (Judaistic)  and  who,  as  he  thought,  denied 

Fchudrch.a  free  grace.  When  he  failed  in  this,  he  formed  a 
church  of  his  own.  Wholly  captivated  by  the  nov- 
elty, uniqueness  and  glory  of  the  grace  of  God  in 


THE   PREPARATION.  71 

Christ,  he  believed  that  the  sharp  antitheses  of 
Paul  (Law  and  Gospel,  works  and  faith,  flesh  and 
spirit,  sin  and  righteousness)  must  be  made  the 
foundation  of  religious  conceptions,  and  that  these 
antitheses  must  be  apportioned  between  the  right- 
eous, angry  God  of  the  Old  Testament,  who  is  iden- 
tical with  the  Creator  of  the  world,  and  the  God  of 
the  Gospel,  who  was  unknown  before  Christ,  and 

who  is  nothing  but  Love  and  Mercy.     This  crass  crass  Dual- 
ism. 

dualism — a  Paulinism  without  dialectics,  Old  Testa- 
ment, or  the  Jewish-Christian  view  of  history — was 
put  forth  by  Marcion,  not  without  his  being  influ- 
enced by  the  Syrian  gnosis  (Cerdo) .  With  the  ethi- 
cal contrast  of  the  sublime  and  good  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  petty,  just  and  hard  on  the  other,  there  was 
joined  the  contrast  between  the  eternal,  spiritual  and 
the  limited,  sentient,  in  a  way  which  threatened  to 
debase  the  problem  again  to  a  question  of  cosmology. 
In  detail,  the  following  points  are  especially  impor- 
tant: 

1.  The  Old  Testament  was  expounded  by  Marcion  Exposition 

r  J  of  Old  Tes- 

according  to  its  verbal  sense  and  with  a  rejection  of  tament- 
all  allegorical  interpretations;  he  accepted  it  as  a 
revelation  of  the  Creator  of  the  world  and  of  the  God 
of  the  Jews ;  but  even  on  this  account  he  placed  it 
in  sharp  antithesis  to  the  Gospel  (see  the  "  Antithe- 
ses") the  content  of  which  he  discovered  solely  in 
the  utterances  of  Jesus  and  in  the  Pauline  Epistles,  WoJ/dssu|nd 
after  that  he  had  purified  them  from  supposed  Jew-     Epistles 

.  .  the  Sole 

ish    interpolations.     These  interpolations  were,   ac-     Gospel. 


72 


OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


stood 
Jesus. 


Marc  ion's 

Theology. 

Christof- 

ogy. 


cording   to   his   idea,    of   long   standing,    since   the 
twelve  apostles  did  not  understand  Jesus  and  mis- 
construed his  Gospel,  making  it  to  correspond  with 
Paul  Alone  the  Old  Testament.     Paul,  who  was  called  b}>  Christ 

Under- 

to  restore  the  true  Gospel,  was  the  only  one  who  per- 
ceived that  Jesus  had  proclaimed  a  hitherto  unknown 
God  of  grace  in  opposition  to  Jehovah.  As  his 
preaching  has  also  been  obscured,  he,  Marcion,  has 
been  authorized  to  restore  the  pure  Gospel.  This 
was  the  mission  which  Marcion's  church  attributed 
to  him,  and  it  gave  his  "  Antitheses  "  a  sort  of  canon- 
ical authority. 

2.  Marcion's  conception  of  God  and  his  Christol- 
ogy  resemble  the  gnostic  in  so  far  as  he  also  empha- 
sized most  clearly  the  newness,  uniqueness  and  abso- 
luteness of  Christianity  in  opposition  to  the  Church 
at  large;  he  surpassed  the  gnostics,  however,  in  so 
far  as  he  conceived  mankind  to  be  wholly  the  off- 
spring of  the  Creator  of  the  world  and  found  in 
man's  nature  nothing  akin  to  the  God  of  Love. 
But  love  and  grace  are  according  to  Marcion  the 
entire  substance  of  the  Godhead ;  redemption  is  the 
most  incomprehensible  act  of  the  Divine  mercy,  and 
everything  that  the  Christian  possesses  he  owes  to 
Christ  alone,  who  is  the  manifestation  of  the  good 
God  himself.  Through  his  suffering  he  purchased 
from  the  Creator  of  the  world  those  who  believe  on 
Docetism.  him,  and  won  them  for  himself.  The  rigid  doce- 
tism,  however,  which  Marcion  taught, — the  declara- 
tion that  the  souls  only  of  men  will  be  saved, — the 


THE    PREPARATION. 

renunciation  of  the  return  of  Christ  and  the  increas- 
ingly hard  asceticism,  even  to  the  prohibition  of  mar-     Asceti- 
cism, 
riage  (in  spite  of  the  thought  that  God's  k>ve  should 

control  the  "  new  "  life),  are  proofs  that  Marcion  was 
to  a  certain  extent  defenceless  against  Hellenism ;  on 
the  other  hand,  his  eschatological  ideas  indicate  that 
he  was  seeking  to  return  to  the  monarchy  of  the 
good  God. 

3.  "With  the  view  of  restoring  the  Church  of  the    Marcion's 

0  Biblical 

pure  Gospel  and  of  gathering  together  the  redeemed  c^DOn- 
who  are  hated  by  the  God  of  this  world,  Marcion 
caused  certain  evangelical  writings  of  a  particular 
character  to  be  collected  (Luke's  Gospel  and  10 
Pauline  Epistles),  laid  down  certain  principles  for 
their  interpretation  and  drew  the  communities  into 
a  closer,  though  freer,  organization.  Inasmuch  as 
he  rejected  the  Old  Testament,  together  with  all 
B  natural "  religion,  philosophy  and  secret  tradition, 
he  was  obliged  to  answer  the  question,  What  is 
Christian?  out  of  the  historical  records.  Here,  as 
in  many  other  respects,  did  he  anticipate  the  Cath- 
olic Church. 

-4.  The  profound  conception  that  the  laws  which  conception 

of  Nature, 

rule  in  nature  and  historv  and  the  course  of   civil     History, 

.  .n. 

righteousness  are  a  reflection  of  the  acts  of  Divine 
mercy,  and  that  humble  faith  and  fervent  love  are 
the  very  opposite  of  self-complacent  virtue  and  self- 
righteousness — this  conception,  which  dominated  the 
Christianity  of  Marcion,  and  which  restrained  him 
from  every  rationalistic  attempt  at  a  system,  was  not 


74  OUTLINES   OF    THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

clearly  maintained  by  his  church  as  time  went  on. 
In  order  to  close  up  the  breaches  and  to  remove  the 
inconsistencies  of  his  conceptions,  some  of  his  pupils 
advanced  to  a  doctrine  of  three  principles,  others  to 
a  vulgar  dualism,  without  however  surrendering  en- 
Apeiies.  tirely  the  fundamental  ideas  of  their  master.  Apelles, 
however,  Marcion 's  greatest  pupil,  returned  to  the 
confession  of  the  one  God,  without  in  other  respects 
surrendering  the  master's  conceptions ;  and,  indeed, 
he  further  developed  some  valuable  ideas,  at  which 
Marcion  had  only  hinted. 

The  Church  fathers  strenuously  opposed  Marcion 
as  the  worst  of  heretics.  In  its  contest  with  him  the 
early  Catholic  Church  doctrine  was  developed  in 
special  directions. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

SUPPLEMENT:   THE   CHRISTIANITY    OF   THE   JEWISH 

CHRISTIANS. 

Primitive        1.  Primitive  Christianity  appeared  simply  as  a 

v»/iiri  stiel  ii~ 

ifcy-  Christian  Judaism,  the  establishment  of  a  universal 
religion  upon  the  Old  Testament  basis;  accordingly 
it  retained  in  so  far  as  it  was  not  hellen ized— and 
that  was  never  fully  accomplished — the  Jewish  im- 
press of  its  origin ;  above  all  it  retained  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  a  primitive  revelation.  Hence  the  dispo- 
sition made  of  the  Old  Testament  was  wholly  Chris- 
tian, proceeding  on  the  assumption  that  the  Chris- 
tians are   the  true   Israel,  that  the  Old  Testament 


THE   PREPARATION.  75 

refers  to  the  Christian  organization  and  teaching, 
and  this,  whether  a  more  or  less  realistic  or  spiritual 
interpretation  of  it  was  in  vogue.  The  question  as 
to  the  principles  of  interpretation  was  a  problem 
within  the  Church,  so  long  as  no  superiority  was 
conceded  to  the  Jewish  nation  as  such,  and  until  the 
abrogation  of  the  Jewish  ceremonies  and  laws  was 
insisted  upon.     Therefore  the  term  "  Jewish- Chris-      Jewish 

x  Christian- 

tianity  "  is  applicable  exclusively  to  those  Christians  lty- 
who  really  retained,  entirely  or  in  the  smallest  part, 
the  national  and  political  forms  of  Judaism  and 
insisted  upon  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  Law 
without  modification  as  essential  to  Christianity,  at 
least  to  the  Christianity  of  the  Jewish-born  converts, 
or  who  indeed  rejected  these  forms,  but  acknowl- 
edged the  prerogative  of  the  Jewish  people  also  in 
Christianity  (Papias  in  spite  of  his  chiliasm ;  the  papias,  Di- 
author  of  the  Didache,  in  spite  of  his  transference 
of  the  Old  Testament  priestly  rights  to  the  Chris- 
tian prophets;  Hermas,  in  spite  of  the  waning  an-  Hermas, 
cient  Greek  philosophy ;  the  adoption  Christologists, 
in  spite  of  their  rejection  of  the  Logos,  are  not 
Jewish  Christians;  Paul,  however,  is  because  of 
Romans  XL).  The  strong  draft  made  upon  the  Old 
Testament  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  cultus-,  doctrine- 
and  discipline-system,  is  so  little  a  sign  of  the  ad- 
vance of  Jewish  Christianity  in  the  Church  at  large, 
that  it  rather  runs  parallel  to  the  advancing  Hellen- 
ism, and  was  called  forth  by  it,  The  formula,  "  the 
new  law,"  in  the  Catholic  Church  is  not  Jewish, 


Paul. 


76  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA 

but  anti-Jewish,  yet  it  left  room  for  the  slipping  in 
of  more  and  more  of  the  Old  Testament  command- 
ments into  the  Church. 

cStiSi-  2-  Jewish  Christianity,  once  a  mighty  antagonist 
loo£efr"  of  Paul,  was,  through  his  labors  and  the  labors  of 
other  teachers,  as  well  as  through  the  native  force 
of  the  Gospel,  overcome.  In  the  fall  of  Jerusalem 
this  conquest  was  completed.  Since  then  Jewish 
Christianity  has  not  been  a  factor  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  while  Judaism  has  remained  such  (in- 
fluence of  Judaism  upon  the  churches  of  the  farthest 

Ebionites,    Orient,   in  the  4th  and    5th  centuries).      However, 

Nazareues 

Sorsome  Jewish  Christians  (Ebionites,  Nazarenes)  existed  for 
some  time,  and  among  them  the  distinctions  re- 
mained which  were  already  formulated  in  the  apos- 
tolic age.  Separated  from  the  main  Church  origi- 
nally, not  on  account  of  "  doctrine  ",  but  on  account 
of  principles  of  social  Church  life,  of  morals  and 
missionary  practice,  there  were  among  them  the  fol- 
Pointsin    lowing  points  in  controversy :  (1)  Whether  the  observ- 

Controver- 

syTh^ug  ance  °f  the  Law  was  a  condition,  or  the  determining 
condition,  of  the  reception  of  the  Messianic  salva- 
tion, (2)  whether  the  same  was  to  be  required  also  of 
Gentile-born  converts,  in  order  to  their  recognition 
as  Christians,  (3)  whether  and  to  what  extent  one 
might  hold  fellowship  with  Gentile  Christians  who 
do  not  observe  the  Law,  (4)  whether  Paul  was  a 
chosen  servaut  of  Christ,  or  a  God-hated  interloper, 
(5)  whether  Jesus  was  a  son  of  Joseph,  or  was  mirac- 
ulously  begotten   of  the   Holy  Spirit.     Thus  there 


THE   PREPARATION.  77 

were  shades  of  belief  within  Jewish  Christianity 
(not  two  clearly  distinguished  parties).  There  seems 
to  have  been  little  literary  activity  among  these  Jew- 
ish Christians,  who  were  expelled  by  the  Jews,  (see, 
however,  Symmachus) ;  their  Gospel  was  the  Hebrew    Accepted 

Hebrew 

Gospel  which  was  related  to  the  Synoptics  (testimony  Gospel, 
of  Justin,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Jerome,  Epiphanius). 
Justin  still  recognized  the  liberal  Jewish  Chris- 
tians who  observed  the  Law  for  themselves  alone, 
and  were  friendly  toward  the  Gentile  Christians,  as 
Christian  brethren.  As  yet  no  Christological  creed, 
no  iTew  Testament,  divided  them,  and  even  in  their 
eschatological  expectations,  Gentile  and  Jewish 
Christians  could  still  come  to  an  understanding. 
But  the  more  Jewish  Christianity  withdrew  from  the 
world  in  general  and  the  more  firmly  the  Catholic   Gradually 

/~h  »  /  Expelled 

Church  fixed  its  doctrine  and  discipline  (add  to  this  from  cath- 

x  v  olic 

the  formation  of  the  New  Testament  canon)  and  church- 
formulated  its  Logos-Christology,  the  more  foreign 
and  heretical  did  Jewish  Christianity  appear;  and 
after  Irenaeus  it  was  even  placed  in  the  same  cate- 
gory with  gnosticism.  Certain  Oriental  fathers, 
however,  pass  a  better  judgment  upon  it. 

3.  Judaism  was  in  the  1st  century  a  very  compli-     Judaism 

Very  Com- 

cated  affair  on  account  of  foreign  influences  (Hellen-     Pleated 
istic  Judaism,  Samaritans,  "  Sects  ") .     Accordingly 
there  were   already    "gnostic"    Jewish  Christians,     Gnostic 
("  false  teachers "  at  Colosse,  see  also  the  Pastoral  christians. 
Epistles;  on  the  other  hand,  Simon  Magus,  Menan- 
der)  who  introduced  into  Christianity  angelological 


78  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Simon  Ägr  speculations  (these  were  also  familiar  to  the  phar- 
nander.  jgees  an(j  tke  writers  of  apocalypses)  and  gave  cur- 
rency to  cosmological  ideas  and  myths,  through  both 
of  which  they  sublimated  the  idea  of  God,  bisected, 
corrected  or  transformed  the  Law  (rejection  of  the 
blood  offering)  and  gave  an  impulse  to  a  peculiar 
asceticism  and  cultus  of  mysteries.  They  continued 
cerinth.  untji  far  jnt0  the  Byzantine  age.  Cerinth  (c.  100) 
retained  certain  established  laws  (circumcision)  and 
preached  a  grossly  sensuous,  realistic  future  king- 
dom; but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  distinguished  the 
supreme  God  from  the  Creator  of  the  world,  freely 
criticised  the  Law  and  distinguished  in  the  Redeemer 
the  man  Jesus  from  the  Christ  whom  he  identified 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Another  branch  of  this  Jew- 
Pseudo-     ish    Christianity  is    to   be    found    in  the    Pseudo- 

Clemeritme  ^ 

a\  nrmgs.  dementine  Writings.  Therein,  as  appears  from  their 
sources,  the  attempt  is  made  by  means  of  stoic  ra- 
tionalism, on  the  one  side,  and  Oriental  mythologic 
cosmology  on  the  other,  to  fortify  apologetically  the 
conception  that  the  Gospel  is  the  restoration  of  the 
pure  Mosaic  doctrine.  The  contradictory  represen- 
tations of  stoic  naturalism  and  a  positive  revelation 
through  prophets  are  to  be  united  through  the  idea 
of  the  one  Prophet,  who  from  Adam  down  has  ap- 

HH.Tufbe  Peared  m  different  forms.  The  Gospel  was  believed 
nun  of      to  be  the  restoration  of  the  primitive  and  universal 

Primitive  .  .  .  _ 

Religion,  religion,  which  is  simply  Mosaism  freed  from  all  its 
peculiar  characteristics  (circumcision,  statutes  re- 
specting offerings) .     Christ  is  the  one  true  Prophet, 


THE   PREPARATION.  79 

who,  as  it  seems,  was  identified  with  the  first  Adam. 
The  stoic  idea  of  the  Myoi  was  accepted,  but  it  was  j^fsl10- 
justified  through  a  dualistically-conceived  eon-spec-  latl0n- 
ulation,  in  which  the  early  Semitic  principles  cropped 
out  (masculine-feminine;  neutralization  of  the  ethi- 
cal contradictions  in  the  supreme  God).  Platonic 
elements  are  hardly  discernible.  But  along  with 
the  apologetical  tendency,  the  polemical  is  strongly 
marked.  This  is  directed,  under  the  form  of  a  refuta- 
tion of  Simon  Magus,  against  every  phase  of  Gentile- 
Christian  gnosticism  (also  against  Marcion),  while 
the  primitive  writings  doubtless  contained  a  polemic 
against  Paul.  The  polemic  and  the  means  made  use 
of  prove  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  already  in  ex- 
istence.    Therefore  the  Pseudo-Clementine  Writings     pseudo- 

i  •        i       •      •  Clemen- 

belong  to  the  3d  century.     Accordingly  it  is  probable    tine  writ- 

that  the  compilers  had  before  them  earlier,  anti-Paul-  century- 
ine  writings.  Moreover  it  is  probable  that  the  last 
redactors  were  in  no  sense  Jewish  Christians,  that, 
also,  the  above-mentioned  characteristics  are  not 
ascribable  to  a  group  of  writers,  as  such,  but  that 
they  belong  to  them  only  accidentally,  that  primi- 
tive Jewish  Christian  writings  passed  through  vari- 
ous hands  and  were  innocently  transmitted  and  re- 
vised. This  being  so,  the  seeking  for  a  "Pseudo- 
Clementine  System"  is  a  fruitless  undertaking;  it 
were  better  to  accept  the  last  narrator  as  a  Catholic 
Christian  who  made  use  of  whatever  interested  him 
and  others,  but  who  was  by  no  means  a  disciple  of 
Irenseus  or  Origen.     Whether  under  such  conditions 


80  OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

it  is  possible  to  distinguish  the  gnostic,  Jewish- 
Christian,  and  anti-Pauline  sources  is  questionable. 
A  third  group  which  did  not  have  in  a  true  sense, 
like  the  former,  a  literary  existence  is  composed  of 
Eikesaites.  ^  Elkesaites  (in  Syria,  pushing  toward  Rome  at 
the  beginning  of  the  3d  century) .  These  were  such 
Jewish-Christians  as  wholly  set  aside  the  Old  Testa- 
ment through  their  "  nature-speculations  " ;  who  did, 
however,  retain  the  idea  of  prophecy,  especially  of 
Jesus  as  a  Prophet,  but  who  followed  a  new  prophet 
that  had  perfected  religion  through  penitential  and 
cultus  ordinances  (washings)  on  the  basis  of  a  new 
scripture  revelation.  A  series  of  elements  belong- 
ing to  this  no  longer  Christian  Jewish-Christianity 
(sources:  Hippolytus,  Eusebius,  Epiphanius), — viz. 
rigid  monotheism,  partial  criticism  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, rejection  of  blood  offering,  prohibition  of 
wine,  frequent  washings,  connivance  in  respect  to 
marriage,  perversion  of  the  Messianic  idea  in  the 
interests  of  their  prophet,  discarding  of  atonement 
idea  and,  as  it  seems,  also  of  the  idea  of  a  king- 
dom, high  regard  for  the  relatives  of  their  prophet 
— reappear  again  in  Islamism,  that  was  in  a  measure 
influenced  by  this  "Jewish-Christianity",  which  is 
related  to  the  Sabier.  The  main  Church  troubled 
itself  very  little  about  this  aberration. 


BOOK  IL 


THE    LAYING    OF    THE    FOUNDATION. 


Gentile 
Christian- 


2d  Century. 


CHAPTER   I. 

HISTORICAL  SURVEY. 

Ritschi,  Entstehung   der   altkathl.  Kirche,    1857.     Renan, 
Origines,  T.  V-VII. 

THE  second  century  of  the  existence  of  Gentile- 
Christian  Churches  is  characterized  by  the  ffl 
victorious  contest  with  the  gnostics,  Marcion  and 
the  early  Christian  enthusiasm;  that  is,  by  the  de- 
clining of  the  acute  hellenizing  tendency  on  the  one 
side,  and  by  the  suppression  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tian freedom  of  expression,  discipline  and,  in  part, 
hope  also  on  the  other.  An  important  part  of  prim- 
itive Christianity  was  rescued  by  the  conserving  force 
of  tradition  (faith  in  the  Creator  and  Redeemer 
God) ;  but  men  speculated  all  the  more  freely  about 
the  world  and  its  wisdom,  since  they  believed  that 
they  possessed  in  the  apostolic  Scriptures,  in  the 
apostolic  creed,  in  the  apostolic  office,  the  definite 
assurance  of  what  is  "  Christian".     The  subjectivism 

of  Christian  piety  was  curbed  and  the  fanciful  myth- 
6  81 


82 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Gnostic 
Systems 
Refuted. 


Double 
Problem. 
First:  Ori- 
gin of 
Catholi- 
cism as 
a  Church. 


Second : 
Origin  of 
Scientific 
System  of 

Faith. 


creating  tendency  was  restrained,  likewise  also  the 
acceptance  of  wholly  foreign  material  as  doctrinal 
teaching ;  but  the  individual  was  made  subject  to  a 
sacred  primitive  record  and  to  the  priest,  since  he 
was  put  under  the  rigid  episcopal  restraint  of  the 
one,  holy,  apostolic,  Catholic  Church,  which  men 
identified  with  the  kingdom  of  Christ  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  blessedness.  The  gnostic  systems  were 
finally  refuted ;  but  men  then  made  for  themselves 
out  of  the  kerygma  and  with  the  help  of  Greek 
philosophy  a  scientific  system  of  faith,  which  was  a 
superlative  medium  for  commending  the  Church  to 
the  intellectual  world,  but  which  was  nothing  but  a 
mystery  to  the  laity,  obscuring  their  faith,  or  inter- 
preting the  Gospel  in  the  language  of  the  Greek  phi- 
losophy of  religion. 

2.  The  problem  of  the  history  of  dogma  for  the 
period  from  about  150-300  A.D.,  is  a  double  one: 
First,  it  has  to  describe  the  origin  of  Catholicism  as 
a  Church,  i.e.  the  rise  and  development  of  the  apos- 
tolic-Catholic standards  (Rule  of  Faith,  New  Testa- 
ment, Ecclesiastical  Office ;  standards  regarding  the 
holiness  of  the  Church),  by  which  the  scattered 
churches  were  gradually  fused  into  one  empirical 
Church,  which,  however,  was  held  to  be  the  apos- 
tolic, true  and  Holy  Church.  Second,  it  has  to 
describe  the  rise  and  development  of  the  scientific 
system  of  faith,  as  this  grew  up  on  the  circumfer- 
ence of  the  Church  for  apologetical  purposes,  not  it 
is  true  as  a  foreign  growth,  but  rather  in  closest 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  83 

connection  with  the  aims  of  the  earliest  Gentile 
Christianity  (see  Book  I.  Chap.  3) ;  to  describe  how 
this,  which  was  originally  through  revelation  sim- 
ply an  assured  monotheistic  cosmology,  Logos-doc- 
trine and  moral  theology,  became  in  the  contest  with 
gnosticism  amalgamated  with  the  ideas  of  salvation 
in  the  ancient  mysteries,  on  the  one  side,  with  the 
Church  kerygma  and  the  Old  Testament  ideas  on 
the  other  (Irenseus,  Hipporytus,  Tertullian) ,  and  was  irenaeus, 
thus  transformed  into  a  complicated  system  (philo-  tä^aiv 
sophical,  kerygmatical,  Biblical  and  primitive-Chris- 
tian-eschatological  elements) ;  how,  farther,  under 
the  influence  of  the  Alexandrians,  it  was  recast  into     Aiexan- 

7  drians. 

an  Hellenic,  syncretic  system  in  the  interest  of 
Catholic  gnostics  (type  of  Philo  and  Valentine) ,  and 
how,  then,  the  great  breach  between  scientific  dog- 
matics and  the  traditional  faith  was  made  manifest, 
which  already  in  the  3d  century  had  received  such  a 
thorough  solution  that  the  aims  of  scientific  dog- 
matics and  a  part  of  its  teaching  (above  all  its 
Logos-doctrine)  were  adopted  as  the  faith  of  the  jj^gJne 
Church;  while  other  things  were  cast  aside  or  con- 
tested, the  realistic  propositions  of  the  kerygma 
were  shielded  from  the  spiritualizing  tendency  that 
would  transform  them,  and  the  right  of  distinguish- 
ing between  a  system  of  faith  for  thinking  minds 
and  a  faith  for  unthinking  minds  (thus  Origen)  was 
fundamentally  denied.  The  four  stages  of  the  de- 
velopment of  dogma  (Apologists,  early  Catholic 
Fathers,    Alexandrines,    Methodius    together    with 


Accepted. 


84  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

his  followers)  correspond  to  the  progressive  relig- 
ious and  philosophical  development  of  paganism  dur- 
ing that  time :  Philosophical  theory  of  morals,  idea 
of  salvation  (theology  and  practice  of  mysteries), 
Neo-Platonism  and  reactionary  sjmcretism. 


I.  ESTABLISHMENT    OF    CHRISTIANITY    AS    A 
CHURCH  AND  ITS  GRADUAL  SECULAR- 
IZATION. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  SETTING  FORTH  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  RULES 
(NORMS)  FOR  ECCLESIASTICAL  CHRISTIANITY. 
THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH. 


Rule  of         The  three  apostolic  norms  (Rule  of  Faith,  New 

lith,  1st 
istamei 
Office. 


Testament^   Testament,  Office) — see  Irenseus,  ]  T. :  1  sq.,  Tertul- 


lian,  de  praesc.  21.  32.  36.*) — found  their  way  into 
the  different  provincial  churches  at  different  times, 
but  the  three  always  went  together.  They  had  their 
preparatory  stages  in  the  brief  kerygmatic  confes- 

*  De  praescr.  21:  "Constat  omnem  doctrinam  quae  cum  ecclesiis  apos- 
tolicis  matricibus  et  originalibus  fidei  conspiret  veritati  deputandam, 
id  sine  dubio  tenentem  quod  ecclesiae  ab  apostolis,  apostoli  a  Christo, 
Christus  a  deo  accepit. "  36 :  "  Videamus  qiiid  (ecclcsia  Romano)  didicerit, 
quid  docuerit,  cum  Africanis  quoque  ecclesiis  contesserarit.  Unumdeum 
dominum  novit,  creatorem  universitatis,  et  Christum  Jesum  ex  virgine 
Maria  filium  dei  ereatoris,  et  carnis  resurrect  ionem;  legem  et  prophetos 
cum  evangel  iris  et  apostolicis  litteris  miscet,  hide  potat  fidem,  earn  aqua 
signal  sancto  spiritu  vestit,  eucharistia  pascit,  martyrium  exhortatur,  et 
itaadversus  haue  in  st  i  tut  ionem  nominem  recipit."  32:  "  Evolvant  ordi- 
nal) episcoporum  suorum,  ita  per  successionem  ah  initio  decurrentem,  ut 
primus  ille  episcopus  aliquem  ex  apostolis  vel  apostolicis  viris,  qui  tarnen 
cum  apostolis perseveravit,  habuerit  auctorem  et  antecesseorem." 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION. 


85 


sions,  in  the  authority  of  the  xoptog  and  of  the  apos- 
tolic tradition,  as  well  as  in  the  epistles  read  in-the 
churches,  and  finally  in  the  deference  shown  to 
apostles,  prophets  and  teachers,  i.e.  to  the  "elders" 
and  leaders  of  the  individual  churches. 

A.  The  Recasting  of  the  Baptismal  Confession  Baptismal 
into  the  Apostolic  Rule  of  Faith  (Caspari,  Quellen  sion. 
z.  Gesch.  des  Tauf  symbols,  4  Bdd.).  From  the  first 
there  was  in  the  Church  a  kerygma  (preaching)  of 
Christ  (see  Book  I.,  Chap.  3  sub  2)  and  brief  confes- 
sional formulas  (Father,  Son  and  Spirit) ;  and  espe- 
cially in  the  Roman  church,  at  least  since  ±  140  A.D., 
a  definite  baptismal  confession  (probably  also  in  Asia 
Minor).  These  confessions  were  "the  faith"  and 
were  considered  the  quintessence  of  the  apostolic 
preaching  and  were,  therefore,  referred  back  to 
Christ  and  ultimately  to  God  himself.  But  every- 
thing indeed  which  seemed  inalienable  was  looked 
upon  as  an  apostolic  rule  of  faith,  e.g.  the  Christian 
interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament.  However, 
probably  nothing  was  fixed,  save  that  the  Roman 
symbol  and  the  ethical  rules  (dtda%i}  xuptou)  stood  at 
least  upon  the  same  plane  as  the  kerygma  of  Christ. 
From  the  beginning,  however,  in  the  work  of  in- 
struction, in  exhortations  and,  above  all,  in  the  con- 
tests with  false  teachings  men  enjoined :  ä7coXi7carßev 

ra?  xev&s  xal  //.araia?  (ppovrldas^  xal  eX&atftsv  iz\  tov  svxXstj 
xal  (tzixvov  ryjs  izapaböaeioq  Tjtiwv  xavöva  (I.  Clem.  7;  cf. 
Polyc.  epist.  2.  7;  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  Jude,  Ig- 
natian  Letters,  also  Justin).     As  the  danger  from 


Roman 
Symbol. 


86  OUTLINES   OP  THE   HISTORY   OP  DOGMA. 

Exteraii  gnosticism  became  acute,  men  necessarily  came  to 
standard.  reaijze  that  neither  the  content  and  compass  of 
"the  received  faith"  ("the  sound  doctrine"),  nor 
its  interpretation  was  secured  to  them.  There  was 
need,  it  seemed,  of  a  fixed  outward  standard,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  disprove  doctrines  such  as  that 
of  the  difference  between  the  supreme  God  and  the 
Creator-God,  or  such  as  that  of  docetism,  and  to 
be  able  to  maintain  the  true  conception  as  apostolic 
doctrine — they  needed  a  definitely  interpreted  apos- 
tolic creed.  Under  these  circumstances  the  partic- 
churches    ularly  closely   allied   churches  of   Asia  Minor  and 

of  Asia  J  J 

^Romele?  R°me>   whose  experience   is   known  to  us  through 
cet5maaip"    Irenseus  (he  is  hardly  the  first  writer  on  the  subject), 

Confession  1      -i         /»        -i  '  t-»  i  •  i  c 

as  Apos-  accepted  the  fixed  Roman  baptismal  confession  as 
apostolic  in  such  a  way  that  they  proclaimed  the 
current  anti-gnostic  interpretation  of  it  as  its  self- 
evident  content,  and  the  expounded  confession  as 
" fides  catholica";  i.e.  they  set  it  up  as  a  standard 
of  truth  in  matters  of  faith  and  made  its  acceptance 
the  condition  of  membership  in  the  Church.  This 
procedure,  by  which  the  centre  of  gravity  of  Chris- 
tianity was  shifted,  (the  latter,  however,  was  pre- 
served from  entire  dissolution)  rests  upon  two  un- 
proven  assertions  and  an  exchange.  It  is  not  proven 
that  any  confession  of  this  kind  emanated  from  the 
apostles  and  that  the  churches  founded  by  the  apos- 
tles always  preserved  their  teaching  without  modi- 
fications; and  the  confession  itself  was  exchanged 
for  an  exposition  of  it.     Finally,  the  conclusion  that 


tolic. 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  87 

from  the  virtual  agreement  in  doctrine  of  a  group  of 
churches  (bishops)  there  existed  a  fides  catholica 
was  unjustified.     This  action  established  the  Cath-    catholic 

Argument 

olic  argument  from  tradition  and  has  determined   dulonTEs" 
its  fundamental  significance  until    the  present   tabllshed- 
time :  The  equivocal  right,  on  the  one  side,  to  an- 
nounce the  creed  as  complete  and  plain,  and,  on  the 
other  side,  to  make  it  so  elastic  that  one  can  reject 
every  uncomfortable  meaning,  is  to  the  present  day 
characteristic  of  Catholicism.     It  is  also  characteris- 
tic that  men  identify  Christianity  with  a  system  of 
faith  which  the  laity  cannot  understand.     The  lat- 
ter are  therefore  oppressed  and  referred  back  to  the 
authority. 
Tertullian  developed  the  method  of  IrensBus  still   Tertuiiian 

x  Makes  an 

farther.  As  the  latter  found  the  chief  gnostic  A£Sus.n 
teachings  already  refuted  in  the  baptismal  confes- 
sion, while  as  yet  only  the  common  sense  of  the 
Church  protested  against  them;  so  the  former, 
embracing  the  confession  all  the  more  firmly  as  au- 
thority for  the  faith,  found  in  the  regula  already  the 
creation  of  the  universe  from  nothing,  the  mediator- 
ship  of  the  Logos  in  creation,  the  existence  of  the 
same  before  all  creatures,  a  definite  theory  in  regard 
to  his  incarnation,  the  preaching  of  a  nova  lex  and 
of  a  nova  promissio,  and  finally  also  the  trinitarian 
economy  and  the  correct  teaching  in  respect  to  the 
natures  of  Christ  (de  praescr.  Id;  de  virg.  1;  adv. 
Prax.,  2,  etc.).  His  "regula"  is  an  apostolic  lex  et 
doctrina,  inviolable  for  every  Christian. 


S8  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Not  wide-        Only  in  the  course  of  the  3d  century  did  this  Cath- 

Spread  till  J  ^ 

cSyd  olic  standard  become  wide-spread  in  the  Church. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  did  not  yet  know  it  (for 
him  the  xavwv  rrjs  r/.-Arj<j>a$  was  the  anti-gnostic  in- 
terpretation of  the  Holy  Scriptures) ;  Origen,  how- 
ever, came  very  near  accepting  it  (see,  de  princip. 
praef.),  i.e.  in  the  beginning  of  the  3d  century  the 
Alexandrian  Church  was  following  the  Roman,  and 
gradually  became  "  Catholic".  Later  still  the  Syrian 
churches  also  followed,  as  the  documentary  source 
of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  proves,  which  knows 
nothing  of  the  "apostolic  rule  of  faith"  in  the 
Occidental  sense.  Only  at  the  end  of  the  3d  century 
did  the  Catholic  Church  become  a  reality  through 
the  common  apostolic  lex  and  distinguish  itself 
sharply  from  the  heretical  parties ;  remote  churches, 
indeed,  probably  came  first  through  Nicea  to  an  ac- 
ceptance of  an  "apostolic  rule  of  faith."  But  even 
the  Nicene  creed  was  not  accepted  at  a  single  stroke. 
mtntwfu-  B*  The  Recognition  of  a  Selection  of  Well- 
ognfzed'as  knoiun  Scriptures  as  Virtually  Belonging  to  the 
Old  Testament;  i.e.  as  a  Compilation  of  Apostolic 
Scriptures  (see  the  "Introductions  to  the  N.  T." 
by  Reuss,  Holtzmann,  Weiss) .  By  the  side  of  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  (rd  ßißXid)  there  was  in  the 
churches  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  or  briefly  "  6  xuptos", 
which  was  indisputable.  The  words  and  deeds  of 
the  Lord  ("the  Gospel")  were  recorded  in  numer- 
ous, oft-revised  scriptures  closely  related  to  each 
other, which  were  called  the  "Lord's  Writings",  also 


THE   LAYING    OF   THE    FOUNDATION.  80 

"  köyia",  then — yet  not  till  after  the  middle  of  the  2d 

Century — "  evayyiXia  "    and    "  oxo;jyqiJ.oveo;j.ara    rmv    ano- 

GTokmv " ;  these  were  publicly  read  at  least  after  c. 
140  (Justin).  The  last  named  title  expresses  the 
judgment,  that  everything  which  was  reported  of 
the  Lord  could  be  traced  directly  or  indirectly  to 
the   apostles.      Out  of  these   numerous   evangelical     Tatians 

Diatessa- 

writings  there  were  in  certain  churches,  already  ron- 
before  the  middle  of  the  2d  century,  four  that  were 
prominent — our  present  Gospels — which,  e.g.,  very 
soon  after  160  were  worked  over  by  Tatian  into  a 
single  Gospel  (Diatessaron) .  About  the  same  time 
they  took  on  their  final  form,  more  than  likety  in 
Rome.  Together  with  these  writings  the  Epistles 
of  the  apostle  Paul,  which  had  been  collected  earlier, 
were  read  in  the  churches,  i.e.  by  the  leaders,  as 
the  Epistles  of  Clement,  Barnabas,  Ignatius  and  par- 
ticularly Poly  carp  testify.  While  however  the  Gos- 
pels had  a  direct  relation  to  the  kerygma  and  met 
the  requirements  of  tradition  (Ignatius,  Justin),  such 
was  not  the  case  with  the  Pauline  Epistles.  Finally 
all  definite  scriptural  productions  of  prophetic  spirits 
(irvsufiaropopoi)  were  revered  as  inspired  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, whether  they  were  Jewish  apocalypses  with 
high-sounding  names,  or  the  writings  of  Christian 
prophets  and  teachers.  The  ypa-<prf  was  primarily 
the  Old  Testament,  but  with,  "  6  y.opios  Xiyei"  {fiypaitxat 
or  simply  Uyei),  apocalyptic  verses  were  also  cited. 
Of  like  worth,  but  different  in  kind,  was  the  cita- 
tion :   o  xbptos  Xiyet  iv  roT  evayyeXtai  (fulfilling  of  proph- 


90  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

ecy — ethical  rules).  Many  teachers  gladly  spoke  in 
the  words  of  the  apostle  Paul,  without  according 
them  the  same  rank  as  the  Scriptures  and  the  Word 
of  the  Lord  (were  the  Epistles  of  Paul  publicly  read 
in  the  churches  before  c.  180?). 

Marcion's  Marcion,  who  rejected  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
prophetic  proofs,  formed  a  new  collection  of  Scrip- 
tures and  gave  it  canonical  rank  (Luke's  Gospel,  10 
Pauline  Epistles).  At  the  same  time  probably,  or 
a  little  later,  the  gnostic  school  leaders  did  the  same, 
favoring  the  writings  in  widest  circulation  among 
the  churches,  but  with  new  additions  (Yalentinus, 
Tatian,  Encratites) .  Everywhere  in  such  circles  the 
Epistles  of  Paul  came  to  the  front;  for  they  were 
theological,  soteriological,  and  could  be  interpreted 
as  dualistic.  The  new  critically  constituted  collec- 
tions, which  the  gnostics  set  over  against  the  Old 
Testament,  were  clothed  with  the  same  authority  as 
the  Old  Testament  and  were  allegorically  interpreted 
in  harmony  with  it  (still,  besides,  secret  tradition  and 
secret  scriptures) .  Again,  a  reference  to  the  Ypa<rq 
and  the  y.opto?  did  not  suffice  for  the  leaders  of  the 

Forming     churches.     It  was  necessary,  (1)  to  determine  which 

of  N.  T. 

canon,  evangelical  writings  (in  which  recension)  were  to 
be  taken  into  consideration ;  it  was  necessary,  (2)  to 
deprive  the  heretics  of  everything  which  could  not 
be  discredited  as  new  and  false ;  it  was  necessary, 
(3)  to  put  forth  such  a  collection  of  writings  as  did 
not  overturn  the  evidence  from  tradition,  but  on  the 
contrary   by  their    inherent  qualities    even    added 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION.      91 

weight.  At  first  they  confined  themselves  to  the 
proclamation  of  the  four  Gospels  as  the  only  authen- 
tic apostolic  records  of  the  Lord.  These  were  al- 
ready held  in  an  esteem  so  nearly  equal  to  that  of 
the  Old  Testament,  that  the  immense  stride  neces- 
sary to  declare  the  words  and  letters  holy  was 
scarcely  recognized  as  an  innovation ;  besides,  what 
the  Master  had  said  was  from  the  beginning  consid- 
ered holy.  Many  and,  indeed,  most  of  the  churches 
abode  by  this  decision  until  far  into  the  3d  century ; 
see,  for  example,  the  documentary  basis  of  \,he  Apos- 
tolic Constitutions ;  some  Oriental  churches  continued 
to  use  the  Diatessaron.  No  second  collection  came  to 
be  esteemed,  and  the  four  Gospels  were  joined  to  the 

ßlßXia    ((>'   y.opio$   dcd   <ppo<pr/Tä)v — 6   xopto<$  kv   toj   sbayyeliifS  • 

alongside  of  these  stood  the  testimony  of  pneumatic 
scribblings,  ever  however  having  decreasing  dignity 
(Montanist  controversy) . 
But  wherever  the  contest  with  heresy  was  most      PauPs 

Epistles 

vehemently  carried  on  and  the  consolidation  of  the  ^  egJ? 
churches  upon  stable  principles  was  most  intelli-  pels' 
gently  undertaken — in  (Asia  Minor  and)  Rome,  a 
new  Catholic-apostolic  collection  of  scriptures 
was  opposed  to  the  new  gnostic  collection,  more  in 
defence  than  in  attack.  The  Epistles  of  Paul  were 
added  to  the  four  Gospels  (not  without  some  scruples 
in  transforming  scriptures  which  were  written  for 
special  occasions  into  Divine  oracles  and  conceal- 
ing the  process  even  of  transformation)  and  conse- 
quently included  under  the  argument  from  tradition, 


92  OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

so  that  through  the  medium  of  a  very  recent  book, 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  they  were  associated  with 
the  supposed  preaching  of  the  twelve  apostles,  i.e. 
subordinated  to  it.  The  Paul  sanctioned  by  the 
twelve  apostles  in  the  Acts,  and  made  hardly  recog- 
nizable by  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  thus  became  a  wit- 
ness of  the  dtda/jj  did.  rcov  iß'  ä-oßröhnv,  i.e.  one  Was 
under  obligation  and  had  the  right  to  understand 
him  in  accordance  with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
which  surely  came  into  the  collection  only  faute.de 
mieux  and  was  obliged  to  support  a  tradition  far 
New  Testa-  bey oud   its   own   words.     The   two-,  more  properly 

ment 

placed  on  three-fold  new  apostolic  collection  (Gospels,  Acts, 
old1  Testa?  Pauline  Epistles),  now  placed  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment on  the  same  plane  with  the  Old  Testament  and 
presently  raised  above  the  latter,  already  recognized 
by  Iremeus  and  Tertullian  (in  practice,  not  in  theory, 
the  Gospels  and  the  Pauline  Epistles  seemed  to  be 
of  equal  worth),  gradually  came  into  use  in  the 
churches,  beginning  in  the  Occident,  and  when  this 
was  once  accomplished  the  result  could  hardly  be 
disturbed.  Whereas  a  fourth  and  fifth  ingredient 
could  never  really  win  a  perfectly  firm  form.  First, 
men  sought  to  strengthen  the  history  of  the  apostles 
by  means  of  scriptures  written  by  the  twelve  apos- 
tles. It  was  natural  that  they  should  wish  to  have 
such  scriptures,  and  then  there  were  highly  esteemed 
scriptures  from  Christian  prophets  and  teachers 
enough  to  suggest  their  acceptance  (they  could  not 
be  ignored) ,  but  without  any  apostolic  authority  (in 


ment. 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION. 


93 


the  strict  sense) .  Thus  arose  the  group  of  Catholic 
Epistles,  for  the  most  part  denominated  apostolic, 
originally  anonymous  writings  (most  scholars  held 
them  to  be  pseudonymous),  whose  ancient  authority 
could  be  rescued  only  by  ascribing  them  to  the 
twelve  apostles.  This  group,  however,  with  the 
exception  of  two  epistles,  did  not  become  fixed  as 
regards  its  extent  or  its  dignit}^  until  the  4th  century 
and  even  later,  and  this  without  thereby  really  en- 
dangering— strange  to  say — the  respect  given  to  the 
entire  collection.  Second,  the  apocalypses  presented 
themselves  for  admission  to  the  new  collection.  But 
the  time  which  produced  them  was  wholly  gone  by 
and  indeed  combated  them,  and  the  nature  of  the 
new  collection  required  apostolic,  not  prophetic 
sanction ;  the  latter  rather  excluded  it.  The  apoca- 
lypses of  Peter  and  John  could,  therefore,  alone  come 
under  consideration.  The  former  was  quickly  re- 
jected for  some  unknown  reason  and  the  latter  was 
finally  ^>?  did  xop6$  rescued  for  the  new  collection. 

A  closed  New  Testament  there  was  not  in  the 
churches  in  the  3d  century ;  but  where  there  was  at 
hand  a  second  collection,  it  was  used  virtually  as  the 
Old  Testament  and  no  questions  were  raised.  The 
incomplete  collection  served  ad  hoc  every  purpose 
which,  as  one  might  think,  the  complete  alone  could 
serve.  Catholicism  never  came,  however,  to  be  a 
religion  of  the  book.  The  words  of  the  Lord  re- 
mained the  standard  for  the  guidance  of  life,  and 
the  development  of  doctrine  pursued  its  own  course 


Catholic 
Epistles 
Added. 


Apoca- 
lypses of 
Peter  and 

John. 


No  Closed 
N.  T.  in 
3d  Cen- 
tury. 


94  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

at  all  times,  being  influenced  only  in  a  secondary 
way  by  the  New  Testament. 
Results         Results:  (1)  The    New   Testament   conserved   the 

which  fol-  v   ' 

ceptanctof  mos*  valuable  part  of  the  primitive  literature;  but 
it  gave  over  to  destruction  almost  all  the  remaining 
literature  as  being  arrogant  or  corrupt;  (2)  the  New 
Testament  made  an  end  to  the  production  of  inspired 
writings,  but  it  also  made  an  ecclesiastically  profane 
literature  possible  and  likewise  set  fixed  limits  to  it; 
(3)  the  New  Testament  obscured  the  historic  sense 
and  the  historical  origin  of  its  own  documents,  but 
it  at  the  same  time  occasioned  the  necessity  of  a 
thorough-going  study  of  these  documents  and  pro- 
vided for  their  active  influence  in  the  Church ;  (4) 
the  New  Testament  repressed  the  enthusiastic  ten- 
dency to  the  production  of  "  facts  " ;  but,  in  requiring 
that  all  the  statements  in  its  own  documents  should 
be  considered  entirely  harmonious,  clear,  sufficient 
and  spiritual,  it  necessitated  the  learned,  theological 
production  of  new  facts  and  mythological  concep- 
tions ;  (5)  the  New  Testament  set  boundaries  to  the 
time  of  revelation,  exalted  the  apostolic  age  and 
the  apostles  themselves  to  an  unapproachable  height 
and  thereby  helped  to  lower  the  Christian  ideal  and 
requirements,  but  it  likewise  preserved  the  knowl- 
edge and  power  of  the  same,  and  became  a  goad  for 
the  conscience;  (6)  the  New  Testament  guarded 
effectively  the  hesitating  canonical  esteem  for  the  Old 
Testament;  but  it  likewise  made  it  an  offence  to 
exalt  the  Christian  revelation  above  that  of  the  Old 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  95 

Testament,  and  to  brood  over  the  specific  meaning 
of  the  former;  (7)  the  New  Testament  encouraged 
the  fatal  tendency  to  identify  the  Master's  words 
with  apostolic  tradition  (teaching  of  the  apostles), 
but  through  the  acceptance  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  it 
set  as  a  standard  the  loftiest  expression  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  redemption,  and  through  the  canoniza- 
tion of  Paulinism  it  introduced  most  valuable  leaven 
into  the  history  of  the  Church ;  (8)  through  the  claim 
of  the  Catholic  Church  that  both  Testaments  be- 
longed to  her  alone,  she  robbed  all  other  Christian 
churches  of  their  title-right  to  them ;  but  while  she 
made  the  New  Testament  a  norm,  she  constructed 
an  armory  from  which  in  the  time  to  come  the 
sharpest  weapons  have  been  drawn  out  against '  her- 
self. 

C.   The  Transformation  of  the  Episcopal  Office    Transfor- 
in  the  Church  into  the  Apostolic  Office.     History   Episcopal 

Office  into 

of  the  Transformation  of  the  Idea  of  the  Church.  A£S°lic 
The  claim  that  the  apostles  formulated  a  rule  of 
faith  was  not  sufficient;  it  was  necessary  to  show 
that  the  Church  had  kept  the  same  pure  and  that  she 
possessed  within  herself  a  living  court  of  appeal  to 
decide  all  points  under  controversy.  Originally  men 
simply  referred  to  the  churches  founded  by  the  apos- 
tles, in  which  the  true  teaching  was  to  be  found,  and 
to  the  connection  of  these  with  the  disciples  of  the 
apostles  and  the  "ancients".  But  this  appeal  of- 
fered no  absolute  certaint}r ;  hence  Irenseus  and  Ter- 
tullian,  influenced  by  the  imposing  development  of 


Office. 


Succes 
sion 


96  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

the  episcopate  in  Rome  and  by  the  ancient  respect 
once'  given  to  the  apostles,  prophets  and  teachers 
now  transferred  to  the  bishops,  so  conceived  of  the 
same  that  the  "  ordo  episcoporum  per  successioneni 
ab  initio  decurrens  "  guaranteed  to  them  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  apostolic  inheritance.  With  each  this 
thesis  oscillated  between  an  historical  (the  churches 
are  those  founded  by  the  apostles;  the  bishops  are 
the  disciples  of  the  disciples  of  the  apostles)  and  a 
dogmatic  aspect.  Yet  already  with  Irensßus  the  lat- 
Apostoiic  *er  *s  clearly  prominent :  "  episcopi  cum  episcopatus 
successione  cerium  veritatis  charisma  acceperunt " 
(the  charisma  of  truth  depends  upon  the  office  of  the 
bishops  which  rests  upon  the  apostolic  succession) . 
This  thesis  is  simply  a  dogmatic  expression  for  the 
exalted  place  which  the  episcopate  had  already 
actually  won  for  itself;  it  did  not,  moreover,  orig- 
inally in  any  way  entirely  identify  apostles  and 
bishops;  it  remained  also  uncertain  in  its  applica- 
tion to  the  individual  bishops  and  left  room  still 
for  the  ancient  parity:  spiritus,  ecclesia,  fldeles. 
Calixtus  of  Rome,  however  (v.  Tertull.,  de  pudic.j 
Hippol.,  Philos.  IX.),  claimed  for  himself  full  apos- 
tolic regard  and  apostolic  powers,  while  Tertullian 
allowed  to  him  only  the  locus  magist  er  ii.  In  the 
Orient  and  in  Alexandria  the  apostolic  character 
of  the  bishops  was  quite  late  in  gaining  recogni- 
tion. Ignatius  knew  nothing  about  it  (the  bishop 
is  the  representative  of  God  unto  his  own  church) 
and  neither  did  Clement,  and  even  the  basal  docu- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  97 

ment  of  the  Apost.  Constitutions  is  silent.  Yet  in 
the  time  of  Origen  the  doctrine  began  to  establish 
itself  in  Alexandria.     The  idea  of  the  Church  was     idea  of 

Church 

greatly  influenced  by  this  development.  Originally  ^"tEST1 
the  Church  was  the  heavenly  Bride  of  Christ,  the  Dmentp~ 
abiding-place  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  its  Christian 
claims  rested  upon  its  possession  of  the  Spirit,  upon 
its  faith  in  God,  its  hope  and  its  well-ordered  life : 
He  who  belongs  to  the  Church  is  sure  of  his 
blessedness  {Holy  Church).  Then  the  Church  be- 
came the  visible  establishment  of  this  confession  of 
faith  (fides  in  regula  posita  est,  habet  legem  et 
salutem  de  observatione  legis) ;  it  is  the  legacy  of 
the  apostles,  and  its  Christian  character  rests  upon 
its  possession  of  the  true  apostolic  teaching  (Catholic 
Church  in  the  sense  of  universality  and  pureness 
of  doctrine, — the  form  of  expression  since  the  end  of 
the  2d  century) .  One  must  be  a  member  of  this  em- 
pirical, one  apostolic  Church  in  order  to  partake  of 
salvation,  since  here  alone  is  found  that  knowledge 
which  gives  blessedness.  The  Church  ceased  to  be 
the  sure  communion  of  salvation  and  of  the  saints 
and  became  the  condition  of  salvation  (v.  the  fol- 
lowing chapter).  This  conception  of  the  Church 
(Irenaaus,  Tertullian,  Origen)  which  represents  the 
development  of  the  churches  into  the  one  definite 
Church — a  creative  act,  to  be  sure,  of  the  Christian 
spirit — is  not  evangelic,  neither  is  it  hierarchic; 
it  has  never  entirely  disappeared  from  the  Catholic 
churches.     But  almost  from  the  beginning  it  was  in- 


98  OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

iiierarchi-    fluenced  by  the  hierarchical  Church  idea.    The  latter 

cal  Church  J 

Idea'  was  only  hinted  at  by  Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  (the 
last  named  finally  contended  against  it  and  in  this 
contention  he  even  reverted  to  the  primitive  Church 
idea :  spiritus  equals  ecclesia,  universal  priesthood) ; 
it  was  farther  developed  by  Calixtus  and  other 
Roman  priests,  especially  by  Cyprian,  while  the 
Alexandrians  blended  the  earliest  Church  idea  with 
a  mystic-philosophical  conception,  and  Origen,  al- 
though greatly  impressed  by  the  empirical  Church, 
never  lost  sight  of  its  relative  significance  and  office. 
Cyprian.'  Calixtus  and  Cyprian  constructed  the  hierarchical 
Church  idea  out  of  existing  relations  and  the  exigen- 
cies which  these  imposed ;  the  latter  rounded  out  the 
standard  of  the  former,  but  on  one  point,  touching 
the  justification  of  the  earthly  character  of  the 
Church,  he  lagged  behind,  while  Calixtus  had  reso- 
lutely advanced  to  its  completion  (v.  the  following 
chapter).  The  crises  were  so  great  in  the  3d  cen- 
tury that  it  was  nowhere  sufficient, — save  in  isolated 
communities, — to  simply  preserve  the  Catholic  faith; 
one  must  obey  the  bishops  in  order  to  guard  the  ex- 
isting Church  against  the  openly  proclaimed  heathen- 
ism (in  practical  life) ,  heresy  and  enthusiasm  (the 
primitive  Christian  recollections) .  The  idea  of  the 
one  episcopally  constituted  Church  became  supreme 
and  the  significance  of  doctrine  as  a  bond  of  union 
was  left  in  the  background:  The  Church,  resting 
upon  the  bishops,  who  are  the  successors  of  the 
apostles,  the  representatives  of  God,  is  by  reason  of 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  99 

these  fundamental  facts  itself  the  apostolic  legacy. 
According  to  Cyprian  the  Church  is  the  seat  of  sal- 
vation {extra  quam  nulla  solus) ,  as  a  single,  organ- 
ized confederation.     It  rests  wholly  and  solely  upon     church 

Rests  upon 

the  episcopate,  which,  as  the  continuation  of  the  EK;0" 
apostolate,  equipped  with  the  powers  of  the  apos- 
tles, is  the  bearer  of  these  powers.  The  union  of  tho 
individual  with  God  and  Christ  is  therefore  con- 
ceivable only  in  the  form  of  subordination  to  the 
bishops.  The  attribute,  however,  of  the  unity  of 
the  Church,  which  is  of  equal  significance  with  that 
of  its  truth,  since  the  unity  comes  only  through  love, 
manifests  itself  primarily  in  the  unity  of  the  epis- 
copate. This  has  been  from  the  beginning  a  unit 
and  it  remains  a  unit  still,  in  so  far  as  the  bishops 
are  installed  by  God  and  continue  in  brotherly  inter- 
change. The  individual  bishops  are  to  be  considered 
not  only  as  leaders  of  their  own  particular  churches, 
but  as  the  foundation  of  the  one  Church  ("  ecclesia 
in  episcopo  est").  Thence  it  follows  farther,  that 
the  bishops  of  those  churches  founded  by  the  apos- 
tles possess  no  longer  any  peculiar  dignity  (all  bish- 
ops are  equal,  since  they  are  partakers  of  the  one 
office).     The  Roman  chair,  however,  came  to  have     Roman 

'  '  '  Chair. 

a  peculiar  significance,  since  it  was  the  chair  of  the 
apostle  upon  whom  Christ  first  conferred  the  apos- 
tolic gifts  in  order  to  indicate  clearly  the  unity  of 
these  gifts  and  of  the  Church ;  and  farther  also,  be- 
cause historically  the  Church  of  this  chair  was  the 
root  and  mother  of  the  one  Catholic  Church.     In  a 


100       OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

severe  Carthaginian  crisis,  Cyprian  so  appealed  to 
Rome  as  if  communion  with  this  Church  (its  bishop) 
was  the  guarantee  of  the  truth ;  but  later  he  denied 
the  claims  of  the  Roman  bishop  to  special  rights 
over  other  churches  (contest  with  Stephen).  Fi- 
nally, although  he  placed  the  unity  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church  above  the  unity  in  articles  of 
faith,  the  essence  of  Christianity  was  guarded  by 
him  to  this  extent,  that  he  demanded  of  the  bishops 
everywhere  a  Christian  steadfastness,  otherwise  they 
ipso  facto  would  forfeit  their  office.  Cyprian  also 
as  yet  knew  nothing  of  a  character  indelibilis  of  the 
bishops,  while  Calixtus  and  other  Roman  bishops 
vindicated  the  same  to  them.  A  consequence  of  his 
theory  was,  that  he  closely  identified  heretics  and 
schismatics,  in  which  the  Church  did  not  then  fol- 
low him.  The  great  one  episcopal  Church,  which 
he  presupposed  was  by- the- bye  a  fiction ;  such  a  homo- 
geneous confederation  did  not  in  reality  exist;  Con- 
stantine  himself  could  not  complete  it. 


CHAPTER    III. 

CONTINUATION:   THE   OLD   CHRISTIANITY   AND 
THE   NEW   CHURCH. 

[See  the  Literature  on  Montanism  and  Novatianism.] 

Montan-         *•  ^HE  denial  of  the  claims  of  the  ethical  life,  the 

istmnism?"  paling  of  the  primitive  Christian  hopes,  the  legal  and 

political  forms  under  which  the  churches  protected 


THE   LAYING   OF  THE   FOUNDATION.  101 

themselves  against  the  world  and  against  heresies 
called  forth  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  2d  century, 
first  in  Asia  Minor,  then  in  other  Christian  commu- 
nities, a  reaction  which  sought  to  establish,  or  rather 
to  re-establish,  the  primitive  times  and  conditions 
and  to  protect  Christianity  from  the  secularizing 
tendency.  The  result  of  this  crisis  (the  so-called 
Montanist  crisis  and  the  like)  was,  that  the  Church 
asserted  itself  all  the  more  strenuously  as  a  legal 
organization  which  has  its  truth  in  its  historical 
and  objective  foundation,  that  it  accordingly  gave  a 
new  significance  to  the  attribute  of  holiness,  that  it 
expressly  authorized  a  double  state, — a  spiritual  and 
a  secular,  — within  itself,  and  a  double  morality,  that 
it  exchanged  its  character  as  the  possessor  of  certain 
salvation  for  that  other,  viz.  to  be  an  indispensable 
condition  for  the  transmission  of  salvation  and  to  be 
an  institution  for  education.  The  Montanists  were 
compelled  to  withdraw  (the  New  Testament  had 
already  thereby  done  good  service),  as  well  as  all 
Christians  who  made  the  truth  of  the  Church  de- 
pendent upon  a  rigid  maintenance  of  its  moral  claims. 
The  consequence  was  that  at  the  end  of  the  3d  cen- 
tury two  great  Christian  communities  put  forth 
claims  to  be  the  true  Catholic  Church :  viz.  the  na- 
tional Church  confederated  by  Constantine  and  the 
Novatian  churches  which  we  refused  with  the  rem- 
nant of  Montanism.  The  beginnings  of  the  great 
schism  in  Rome  go  back  to  the  time  of  Hippolyt 
and  Calixtus.  /& 


102       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

M(Aitmnus  ^*  Tne  Montanist  opposition  had  undergone  a 
great  transformation.  Originally  it  was  the  stupen- 
dous undertaking  of  a  Christian  prophet  (Montanus) , 
who  with  the  assistance  of  prophetesses  felt  called 
upon  to  realize  for  Christianity  the  rich  prophetic 
promises  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  He  interpreted  these 
in  accordance  with  the  Apocalypse,  and  proclaimed 
that  the  Paraclete  had  appeared  in  his  own  person, 
in  whom  also  Christ,  yea,  even  God  Almighty,  had 
come  to  his  own  in  order  to  lead  them  into  all  truth 
and  to  gather  together  into  one  fold  his  scattered 
flocks.  Accordingly  it  was  Montanus'  highest  aim 
to  lead  the  Christians  forth  from  their  civic  relations 
and  communial  associations  and  to  form  a  new, 
homogeneous  brotherhood  which,  separated  from  the 
world,  should  prepare  itself  for  the  descent  of  the 

opposed     heavenly  Jerusalem.     The  opposition  which  this  ex- 

by  Leaders 

of  church,  orbitant  prophetical  message  encountered  from  the 
leaders  of  the  churches,  and  the  persecutions  under 
Marcus  Aurelius,  intensified  the  already  lively  es- 
chatological  expectations  and  increased  the  desire  for 
martyrdom.  That  which  the  movement  lost,  how- 
ever, in  definiteness  (in  so  far  as  the  realization  of 
the  ideal  of  uniting  all  Christians  was  not  accom- 
plished, except  for  a  brief  period  and  within  narrow 
limits)  it  gained  again  after  c.  180  inasmuch  as 
the  proclamation  of  it  invested  earnest  souls  with 
greater  power  and  courage,  which  served  to  retard 
the  growing  secularizing  tendency  within  the  Church. 
In  Asia  and  Phrygia  many  Christian  communities 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  103 

acknowledged  in  corpore  the  Divine  mission  of  the  ^ujjfjtf 
prophets ;  in  other  provinces  assemblies  were  formed  phry&ia- 
in  which  the  current  teachings  of  these  prophets 
were  considered  as  a  Gospel,  at  the  same  time  vari- 
ous modifications  were  going  on  (sympathies  of  the 
confessors  in  Lyons.  The  Roman  bishops  came  near 
acknowledging  the  new  prophecies).  In  the  Mon- 
tanist churches  (c.  190)  it  was  no  longer  a  question 
of  a  new  organization  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word, 
or  of  a  radical  re-formation  of  the  Christian  organi- 
zations, but  rather,  wherever  the  movement  can  be 
clearly  traced,  were  these  questions  already  pushed 
aside,  even  when  they  were  active  and  influential. 
The  original  prophets  had  set  no  bounds  to  their  en- 
thusiasm ;  there  were  also  no  definite  limits  to  their 
high  pretensions:  God  and  Christ  had  appeared  in 
them ;  the  Prisca  saw  Christ  living  in  female  form ; 
these  prophets  made  the  most  extravagant  prophecies 
and  spoke  in  a  loftier  tone  than  any  one  of  the  apos- 
tles; they  subverted  apostolic  regulations;  they  set 
forth,  regardless  of  every  tradition,  new  command- 
ments for  the  Christian  life ;  they  railed  at  the  great 
body  of  Christian  believers ;  they  thought  themselves 
to  be  the  last  and  therefore  the  highest  prophets,  the 
bearers  of  the  final  revelation  of  God.  But  after 
they  had  passed  off  the  stage,  their  followers  sought 
an  agreement  with  the  common  Christian  churches. 
They  recognized  the  great  Church  and  begged  to  be  ^J^d?8 
recognized  by  it.  They  were  willing  to  bind  them-  Church. 
selves  to  the  apostolic  regula  and  to  the  New  Tes- 


104        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

tament;  they  no  longer  hesitated  to  accept  the 
ecclesiastical  organization  (the  bishops).  And  they 
accordingly  demanded  the  recognition  of  their  own 
prophets,  whom  they  now  sought  to  commend  as 
successors  of  the  earlier  prophets  (prophetic  succes- 
sion) ;  the  "  new  "  prophecy  is  really  a  later  revela- 
tion, which,  as  the  Church  understands  it,  presup- 
poses the  earlier;  and  the  later  revelation  pertains 
simply  and  solely  (in  addition  to  the  confirmation 
which  it  gives  to  the  Church  teaching  as  opposed  to 
the  gnostic)  to  the  burning  questions  of  Christian 
discipline  which  it  decides  in  the  interest  of  a  more 
rigid  observance.  Therein  lay  the  significance  of 
the  new  prophecy  for  its  adherents  in  the  empire 
and  accordingly  thejr  had  bestowed  their  faith  freely. 
Through  the  belief  that  in  Phrygia  the  Paraclete 
had  given  revelations  for  the  entire  Church  in  order 
to  establish  a  relatively  severe  regimen  (refraining 
from  second  marriage,  severer  fast  regulations, 
mightier  attestation  of  Christianity  in  daily  life, 
«complete  readiness  for  martyrdom) ,  the  original  en- 
thusiasm received  its  death-blow.  But  this  flame 
was  after  all  a  mighty  power,  since  Christendom  at 
large  made,  between  the  years  190  and  220,  the 
greatest  progress  toward  the  secularization  of  the 
Gospel.  The  triumph  of  Montanism  would  have 
been  succeeded  by  a  complete  change  in  the  owner- 
ship of  the  Church  and  in  missionary  operations: 
its  churches  would  have  been  decimated.  Con- 
cessions,   therefore,    (the    New    Testament,    apos- 


Montan  - 
ism. 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  105 

tolica  regula,  episcopate)  did  not  help  the  Monta- 
nists.  The  bishops  attacked  the  form  of  the  new  AtÄ* 
prophecy  as  an  innovation,  threw  suspicion  on  its 
content,  interpreted  the  earlier  future  hopes  as  ma- 
terialistic and  sensuous,  and  declared  the  ethical  de- 
mands to  be  extreme,  legalistic,  ceremonial,  Jewish, 
contrary  to  the  New  Testament,  and  even  heathenish. 
They  set  over  against  the  claims  of  the  Montanists 
to  authentic  divine  oracles,  the  newly  formed  New 
Testament,  declared  that  every  requirement  was  to 
be  found  in  the  declarations  of  the  two  Testaments 
and  thus  clearly  defined  a  revelation  epoch,  which 
extended  to  the  present  time  only  through  the  New 
Testament,  the  apostolic  teaching  and  the  apostolic 
office  of  bishops  (in  this  contest  the  new  ideas  were 
for  the  first  time  made  perfect,  (1)  that  the  Old  Tes- 
tament contained  prophetical  elements,  the  New 
Testament  was  not  prophetic,  but  apostolic,  (2)  that 
apostolic  dignity  could  not  be  reached  by  any  person 
of  the  present  day) .  They  began  finally  to  distin- 
guish between  the  morality  required  of  the  clergy 
and  that  required  of  the  laity  (thus  in  the  question 
of  one  wife).  In  this  way  they  discredited  that 
which  had  once  been  dear  to  the  whole  of  Christen- 
dom, but  which  they  could  no  longer  make  use  of. 
In  so  far  as  they  repelled  the  alleged  misuse,  they 
rendered  the  thing  itself  less  and  less  powerful  (chil- 
iasm,  prophecy,  right  of  laity  to  speak,  rigid  sanc- 
tity) ,  without  being  able  to  entirely  suppress  it.  The 
most  vehement  contest  between  the  parties  was  in 


106        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Heated     regard  to  the  question  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin.     The 

Controver-  on  <=> 

$&§?&!    Montanists,   otherwise  acknowledging  the  bishops, 

HPSS  of  • 

sin.  ascribed  this  right  to  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  (i.e.,  to 
those  who  possess  the  Holy  Spirit) ,  — for  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  is  not  necessarily  attached  to  the  office — 
and  recognized  no  human  right  in  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  which  rested  far  more  on  the  (rare)  laying  hold 
of  the  Divine  mercy  {"potest  ecclesia  (spiritus) 
donare  delicto,,  sed  non  faciam  ") .  They  therefore 
expelled  from  their  churches  all  who  had  committed 
mortal  sins,  committing  their  souls  to  God.  The 
bishops  on  the  other  hand,  contrary  to  their  own 
principle,  were  obliged  to  maintain  that  baptism 
alone  cleanses  from  sin,  and  to  vindicate  the  right 
conveyed  by  the  power  of  the  keys  by  a  reference  to 
the  apostolic  office  in  order  to  protect  the  standing 
of  the  ever  less  holy  churches  against  the  dissolu- 
tion which  would  have  resulted  from  the  earlier  re- 
gime. Calixtus  was  the  first  to  make  use  of  the  right 
of  the  bishops  to  forgive  sins  in  the  widest  sense, 
and  to  extend  this  right  even  to  mortal  sins.  He 
was  opposed,  not  only  by  the  Montanist,  Tertullian, 
but  in  Rome  itself  by  a  very  high  ecclesiastical  rival 
bishop  (Hippolytus) .  The  Montanists  were  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  with  their  "devil-prophecy",  but 
they  withdrew  willingly  from  a  Church  which  had 
become  " unspiritual "  (psychic).  The  bishops  as- 
serted the  stability  of  the  Church  at  the  expense  of 
its  Christianity.  In  the  place  of  the  Christianity 
which  had  the  Spirit  in  its  midst,  came  the  Church 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE    FOUNDATION.  107 

organization  which  possessed   the   New  Testament 
and  the  spiritual  office. 

3.   Meanwhile  the  carrying  out  of  the  pretensions     Bishops 

Assume   to 

of  the  bishops  to  the  right  to  forgive  sins  (opposed  Sinsrgieveu 
in  part  by  the  churches  and  the  Christian  heroes,  BsinsUl 
the  confessors)  and  the  extension  of  the  same  to 
mortal  sins  (contrary  to  the  early  practice,  the  early 
conception  of  baptism  and  of  the  Church)  was  at- 
tended by  great  difficulties,  although  the  bishops 
encountered  not  onty  the  early  practice  of  the  primi- 
tive rigid  discipline,  but  also  a  wide-spread  laxness. 
The  extension  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  to  adulterers 
was  the  occasion  of  the  schism  of  Hippolytus.  After 
the  Decian  persecution,  however,  it  was  necessary  to 
declare  even  the  greatest  sin,  apostasy,  as  pardona- 
ble, likewise  to  enlarge  the  ancient  concession  that 
one  capital  sin  after  baptism  might  still  be  pardona- 
ble (a  practice  founded  upon  the  Hennas  Pastor)  and 
to  abolish  all  rights  of  spiritual  persons  (confessors), 
i.e.  to  make  the  forgiveness  of  sin  dependent  upon 
a  regular,  casuistic,  bishopry  action  (Cornelius  of 
Rome  and  Cyprian) .     Only  then  was  the  Church     idea  of 

Jtf  '  J  Church 

idea  radically  and  totally  changed.  The  Church  in-  ^aSaf 
eludes  the  pure  and  the  impure  (like  Noah's  ark) ;  its 
members  are  not  collectively  holy  and  every  one  is 
by  no  means  sure  of  blessedness.  The  Church,  solely 
in  virtue  of  its  endowments,  is  holy  (objective),  and 
these  have  actually  been  conferred,  together  with  the 
pure  teaching,  upon  the  bishops  (priests  and  judges 
in  the  name  of  God) ;  it  is  an  indispensable  salva- 


108        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

tion  institute,  so  that  no  one  will  be  blessed  who 
remains  without;  it  is  also  societas  fidei,  but  not 
fidelium,  rather  is  it  a  training-school  and  cultus- 
institute  for  salvation.  It  possesses  also,  in  addition 
to  baptism,  a  second  cure  for  sin,  at  least  in  practice; 
the  theory,  however,  was  still  confused  and  uncer- 
tain. Now  for  the  first  time  were  the  clergy  and 
laity  sharply  distinguished  religiously  ("  ecclesia 
est  numerus  episcoporum  ") ,  and  the  Roman  bish- 
ops stamped  the  clergy  with  a  character  indelibilis 
(not  Cyprian).  Now  also  began  the  theological 
speculation  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  the  Church, 
as  a  communion  of  saints,  to  the  empirical  holy 
Church,  to  the  milder  secularizing  of  Christianity 
Novatian    tempered   by  the  "means  of  grace."     But  all  this 

Opposi- 
tion could  not  be  accomplished  without  a  great  counter- 
agitation  which  began  at  Rome  (Novatian)  and 
soon  spread  among  all  the  provincial  churches. 
Novatian  required  only  a  minimum,  the  unpardona- 
bleness  of  the  sin  of  apostasy  (upon  the  earth) ,  other- 
wise the  Church  would  no  more  be  holy.  This 
minimum,  however,  had  the  same  significance  as  the 
far  more  radical  demands  of  the  Montanists  two 
generations  before.  There  was  in  it  a  vital  remnant 
of  the  ancient  Church  idea,  although  it  was  strange 
that  a  Church  should  consider  itself  pure  (katharoi) 
and  truly  evangelical,  merely  because  of  its  unwill- 
ingness to  tolerate  apostates  (later  perhaps  other 
second     mortal  sinners) .     A  second  Catholic  Church,  stretch- 

Catholic       .j,  a        > 

church,     mg  from  Spam  to  Asia  Minor,  arose,  whose  archaic 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  109 

fragments  of  the  old  discipline,  however,  did  not 
help  it  to  become  a  more  independent  earthly  system 
of  life ;  nor  did  it  really  distinguish  itself  from  the 
other  Church,  although  it  declared  the  ministrations 
of  the  same  invalid  (practice  of  re-baptism) . 

With  wisdom,  foresight  and  relative  severity  the 
bishops  in  these  crises  brought  their  churches  around 
to  a  new  attitude.  As  it  was,  they  could  use  only 
one  bishop's  Church  and  they  learned  to  consider 
themselves  rightly  as  its  pupils  and  as  its  sheep. 
At  the  same  time  the  Church  had  taken  on  a 
form  in  which  it  could  be  a  powerful  support  to 
the  state.  Besides,  its  inner  life  was  much  better 
organized  than  formerly  in  the  empire,  and  the 
treasure  of  the  Gospel  was  still  ever  in  its  keeping 
(the  image  of  Christ,  the  assurance  of  eternal  life,  the 
exercise  of  mercy)  as  once  the  monotheism  and  piety 
of  the  Psalmists  remained  alive  within  the  hard  and 
foreign  shell  of  the  Jewish  Church. 

Note  1.  The  Priesthood.  The  rounding  out  of  the  Tb^0r{jest" 
old  Catholic  Church  idea  is  clearly  manifested  in  the 
completed  development  of  a  priestly  order.  Hier- 
ourgical  priests  are  found  first  among  the  gnostics 
(Marcion's  followers) ;  in  the  Church  the  prophets 
(Didache)  and  the  local  ministers  (I.  Clement)  were 
formerly  likened  to  the  Old  Testament  priests.  Ter- 
tullian  first  calls  the  bishop  a  priest,  and  from  that 
time  until  about  250  the  priestly  character  of  the  bish- 
ops and  presbyters  was  evolved  very  rapidly  in  the 
Orient,  as  well  as  in  the  Occident;  so  strong  indeed 


110        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

was  the  influence  of  heathenism  at  this  point  that  an 
or  do  of  priestly  assistants  (lower  ordination)  arose 
(in  the  Occident  first).  The  completed  idea  of  priest 
meets  us  first  in  Cyprian,  in  the  Roman  bishops  of  that 
time,  and  in  the  document  which  lies  at  the  basis  of 
the  Apostolic  Constitutions.  The  bishops  (second- 
arily also  the  presbyters)  were  held  to  be  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Church  before  God  (they  alone  are 
permitted  to  bring  the  offering)  and  representatives 
of  God  before  the  Church  (they  alone  grant  or  with- 
hold the  Divine  grace  as  judges  in  the  place  of  God 
and  Christ;  they  are  the  depositaries  of  the  myster- 
ies, who  dispense  a  grace  which  they  thought  to  be 
an  anointing  of  a  materialistic  sort).  In  support  of 
appeal      this  claim,  appeal  was  made  increasingly  to  the  Old 

JuluÖ  to 

system!  Testament  priests  and  the  entire  Jewish  cultus  sys- 
tem, naturally  in  a  supplementary  way.  Doors  and 
windows  were  thus  thrown  open,  as  regards  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  priests,  toward  heathenism 
and  Judaism,  after  that  they  had  disregarded  the 
exhortation  of  the  aging  Tertullian  to  return  to  a 
common  priesthood.  -  Tithes,  cleansings  and  finally 
Sabbath  ordinances  (transferred  to  Sunday)  were 
gradually  established. 

sacrifice.  Note  2.  The  Sacrificial  Offering.  Priesthood  and 
sacrifice  condition  each  other.  The  sacrificial  idea 
had  from  the  beginning  the  widest  play  in  the 
Church  (see  Book  I.  Chap.  3,  Sec.  7) ;  therefore 
the  new  conception  of  the  priest  must  of  necessit}" 
influence  the  conception  of  the  sacrifice,  even  though 


ous 
Works. 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  Ill 

the  old  representation  (pure  sacrifice  of  the  spirit, 
sacrifice  of  praise,  the  whole  life  a  sacrifice)  still 
remained.  This  influence  manifested  itself  in  two 
ways,  (1)  within  the  Christian  life  of  sacrifice  Me^°ri 
was  introduced  the  special  acts  of  fasting,  of  vol- 
untary celibacy,  of  martyrdom,  etc.  more  and  more 
prominently  (see  among  others  Hermas)  and  these 
received  a  meritorious,  and  even  "satisfaction" 
significance  (see  Tertul.) ;  this  development  appears 
complete  in  Cyprian.  To  him  it  is  self-evident  that 
the  Christian,  who  cannot  remain  sinless,  must 
through  penance  (atoning  sacrifice)  reconcile  the 
angry  God.  Deeds  done,  where  special  sins  are  not 
to  be  erased,  entitle  one  to  a  special  reward.  Next 
to  penitential  exercises,  the  giving  of  alms  is  the 
most  effective  means  (prayer  without  alms  is  barren 
and  fruitless) .  In  the  writing,  De  opere  et  eleemos., 
Cyprian  has  given  an  elaborate  theory,  one  might 
say,  concerning  alms  as  a  means  of  grace  which  a 
man  can  provide  and  which  God  accepts.  Follow- 
ing the  Decian  persecution  the  opera  et  eleemosynae 
crowded  into  the  absolution  system  of  the  Church 
and  secured  therein  a  firm  footing :  One  can — through 
God's  indulgence — win  again  for  himself  his  Chris- 
tian standing  through  works.  If  men  had  remained 
wholly  satisfied  with  this,  the  entire  system  of  moral- 
ity would  have  been  encompassed  by  it.  Hence  it 
was  necessary  to  enlarge  the  conception  of  gratia 
dei,  and  not  as  hitherto  to  make  it  depend  solely 
upon  the  sacrament  of  baptism .    This  was  first  accom- 


Christ. 


112       OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Re-SaS-  Pushed,  however,  by  Augustine;  (2)  the  idea  of 
innflce  of5"  sacrifice  underwent  a  change  in  the  cultus.  Here 
also  is  Cyprian  epoch-making.  He  first  clearly  as- 
sociated the  specific  offering  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
with  the  specific  priesthood;  he  first  declared  the 
passio  domini,  and  also  the  sanguis  Christi  and 
the  dominica  hostia  the  object  of  the  eucharistic 
offering,  and  thereby  reached  the  idea  of  the  priestly 
re-enacting  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  (y  -paayopä  too 
awtxaros  xa\  zoo  alparos  also  in  the  apostolic  Church 
regulations) ;  he  placed  the  Lord's  Supper  decidedly 
under  the  point  of  view  of  the  incorporation  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  individual  with  Christ,  and  cer- 
tified in  a  clear  way  for  the  first  time  that  the 
commemoration  of  those  taking  part  in  the  offering 
(vivi  et  defuncti)  had  a  special  {deprecatory)  sig- 
nificance. The  real  effect  of  the  sacrificial  meal  for 
those  participating  was,  however,  the  making  of 
prayers  for  each  other  more  efficacious ;  for  unto  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  fullest  sense  this  act  could, 
notwithstanding  all  the  enrichment  and  lofty  repre- 
sentations of  the  ceremony,  not  be  referred.  There- 
fore the  claim  that  the  service  was  the  re-enactment 
of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  remained  still  a  mere  claim ; 
for  against  the  conception  so  closely  related  to  the 
cultus  of  the  times,  that  participation  in  the  service 
cleansed  from  sin  as  in  the  mysteries  of  the  magna 
mater  and  of  Mithras,  the  fundamental  ecclesiastical 
principle  of  baptism  and  repentance  stood  in  opposi- 
tion.    As  a  sacrificial  act  the  Lord's  Supper  never 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE   FOUNDATION.  113 

attained  to  equal  importance  with  baptism;  but  to 
the  popular  imagination  this  solemn  ritual,  modelled 
after  the  ancient  mysteries,  must  have  gained  the 
highest  significance. 

Note  3.  Means  of  Grace,  Baptism  and  Eucha-    Means  of 

J  ±  Grace, 

rist.  That  which  since  Augustine  has  been  called  BaPtism- 
"means  of  grace  ",  the  Church  of  the  2d  and  3d  cen- 
tury did  not  possess,  save  in  baptism :  According  to 
the  strict  theory  the  baptized  could  not  expect  any 
new  bestowal  of  means  of  grace  from  Christ,  he 
must  rather  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  But  in  practice 
men  possessed  in  absolution,  from  the  moment  when 
mortal  sins  were  absolved,  a  real  means  of  grace, 
whose  significance  was  screened  by  baptism.  Re- 
flection upon  this  means  of  grace  remained  as  yet 
wholly  uncertain,  in  so  far  as  the  thought  that  God 
absolves  the  sinner  through  the  priest  was  crossed 
by  the  other  (see  above) ,  that  the  penitential  acts  of 
sinners  the  rather  secure  forgiveness.  The  ideas  con- 
cerning baptism  did  not  essentially  change  (Hoefling, 
Sacrament  der  Taufe.  2  Bdd.  1846).  Forgiveness 
of  sins  was  looked  upon  in  general  as  the  result  of 
baptism  (however,  here  also  a  moral  consideration 
entered :  The  sins  of  the  unbaptized  are  sins  of  blind- 
ness ;  therefore  it  is  fit  that  God  should  absolve  the 
penitent  from  them) ;  actual  sinlessness,  which  it  was 
necessary  now  to  preserve,  was  considered  the  result 
of  forgiveness.  Often  there  is  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  remissio  and  the  consecutio  ceterni- 

tatis  the   absolutio  mortis,  regeneratio  hominis, 

8 


114       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

restitutio  ad  similitudinem  dei,  consecutio  Spiri- 
tus sancti  ("lavacrum  regenerationis  et  sanctifi- 

Pme"  cationis  ") ,  and  all  possible  blessings  as  well.  The 
ever-increasing  enrichment  of  the  ritual  is  in  part  a 
consequence  of  the  purpose  to  symbolize  these  pre- 
supposed rich  effects  of  baptism ;  in  part  it  owes  its 
origin  to  the  desire  to  worthily  equip  the  great  mys- 
terium.  An  explanation  of  the  separate  acts  had 
already  begun  (confirmation  by  the  bishop).  The 
water  was  looked  upon  as  a  symbol  and  vehicle. 
The  introduction  of  infant  baptism  lies  wholly  in 
the  dark  (in  the  time  of  Tertullian  it  was  already 
wide-spread,  but  condemned  by  him,  de  bapt.  18, 
because  he  held  that  the  cunctatio  was  indicated 
by  reason  of  the  pondus  of  the  act ;  Origen  referred 
it  back  to  the  apostles).     The  attempts  of  some  to 

Lord's      repeat  baptism  were  repelled.     The  Lord's  Supper 

Supper. 

was  looked  upon  not  only  as  an  offering,  but  also  as 
a  divine  gift  (Monographien  von  Doellinger  1826, 
Kahnis  1851,  Rueckert  1856),  whose  effect,  however, 
was  never  strictly  defined,  because  the  rigid  scheme 
(baptismal  grace,  baptismal  duties)  excluded  such. 
Imparting  of  the  Divine  life  through  the  Holy  Sup- 
per was  the  chief  representation,  closely  connected 
with  purely  superstitious  ideas  (väpnazuv  äüava<jias) : 
the  spiritual  and  the  physical  were  strangely  mixed 
(the  bread  as  y^uxrt?  communication  and  C<»tf).  No 
Church  father  made  a  clear  discrimination  here: 
The  realistic  became  spiritualistic  and  the  spiritu- 
alistic   mystical;    but    the   forgiveness   of   sins   re- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  115 

treated  entirely  from  view.  In  accordance  with  this 
the  representation  of  the  relation  of  the  visible  ele- 
ments to  the  body  of  Christ  began  to  take  form.  A 
problem  (whether  symbolical  or  realistic)  no  one 
dreamed  of :  The  symbol  is  the  inherently  potential 
mystery  (vehicle),  and  the  mystery  apart  from  the 
symbol  was  inconceivable.  The  flesh  of  Christ  is 
itself  "spirit"  (no  one  perhaps  thought  of  the  his- 
torical body) ;  but  that  the  spirit  becomes  perceptible 
and  tangible,  was  even  the  distinguishing  mark. 
The  anti -gnostic  fathers  recognized  that  the  con- 
secrated bread  was  composed  of  two  inseparable  ele- 
ments,— one  earthly  and  the  other  heavenly, — and 
thus  saw  in  the  sacrament  that  which  was  denied  by 
the  gnostics,  viz.  :  The  union  of  the  spiritual  and  the 
fleshly  and  the  warrant  for  the  resurrection  of  the 
flesh  which  is  nourished  by  the  blood  of  the  Lord 
(even  so  Tertullian,  who  has  falsely  been  classed  as 
a  pure  symbolist).  Justin  spoke  of  a  transforma- 
tion, but  of  a  transformation  of  the  participants ;  the  Justin, 
idea  of  the  transformation  of  the  elements  was,  how- 
ever, already  taking  form.  The  Alexandrians  saw 
here,  as  in  everything  which  the  Church  at  large  A^^' 
did,  the  mystery  behind  the  mystery ;  they  accommo- 
dated themselves  to  the  administration,  but  they 
wished  to  be  such  spiritual  Christians  that  they 
might  be  continually  nourished  by  the  Logos  and 
might  partake  of  a  perpetual  eucharist.  Every- 
where the  service  was  departing  from  its  original 
significance  and  was  made  more  and  more  precise  as 


116        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

regards  its  form  and  content,  both  by  the  learned 
and  ignorant  (practice  of  infant  communion  testified 
to  by  Cyprian) . 
Mysterfes  Magical  mysteries,  superstition,  authoritative 
faith  and  obedience,  on  the  one  side,  and  a  highly 
realistic  representation  of  the  freedom,  ability  and 
responsibility  of  the  individual  in  moral  matters,  on 
the  other  side,  is  the  mark  of  Catholic  Christendom. 
In  religious  matters  authoritatively  and  supersti- 
tiously  bound,  therefore  passive;  in  moral  matters 
free  and  left  to  themselves,  therefore  active. 

That  the  Roman  church  led  the  way  throughout 
in  this  process  of  broadening  the  churches  into  cath- 
olicity is  an  historical  fact  that  can  be  unquestiona- 
bly proven.  But  the  philosophic-scientific  system  of 
doctrine,  which  was  evolved  at  the  same  time  out  of 
the  faith,  is  not  the  work  of  the  Roman  church  and 
its  bishops. 


THE   LAYING   OF  THE   FOUNDATION.  117 


II.    ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CHRISTIANITY  AS 

DOCTRINE    AND    ITS    GRADUAL 

SECULARIZATION. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  CHRISTIANITY  AND   PHILOSOPHY. 
THE  APOLOGISTS. 

M.  v.  Engelhardt,  Das  Christenthum  Justin's,  1878.  Kühn, 
Octavius,  1882.  Ausgabe  der  Apologeten  mit  Commentar, 
von  Otto. 

1 .  The  apologists  wishing  to  declare  and  defend   The  Apol- 
ogists. 
the  Christianity  of  the  churches  stood  therefore  in 

all  things  upon  the  basis  of  the  Old  Testament,  em- 
phasized the  universalism  of  the  Christian  revela- 
tion and  held  fast  to  the  traditional  eschatologj^. 
They  rejected  gnosticism  and  saw  in  the  moral 
power  which  faith  gave  to  the  uncultured  a  princi- 
pal proof  of  its  genuineness.  But  anxious  to  present 
Christianity  to  the  educated  as  the  highest  and  surest   christian- 

J  °  ity  Highest 

philosophy,  they  elaborated  as  truly  Christian  the  Sy10^"- 
moral  cast  of  thought  with  which  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians from  the  beginning  had  stamped  the  Gospel, 
thereby  making  Christianity  rational  and  giving 
it  a  form  which  appealed  to  the  common  sense  of  all 
earnest,  thinking  and  reasoning  men  of  the  times. 
Besides,  they  knew  how  to  use  the  traditional,  posi- 
tive material,  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  his- 
tory and  worship  of  Christ,  simply  as  a  verification 
and  attestation  of  this  rational  religion  which  had 


118        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

been  hitherto  wanting  and  had  been  sought  for  with 
fervent  desire.  In  the  apologetic  theology  Chris- 
tianity is  conceived  as  a  religious  development 
brought  about  by  God  himself  and  corresponding 
to  the  primitive  condition  of  man  and  placed  in 
the  sharpest  contrast  with  all  polytheistic  national 
religions  and  ceremonial  observances.  With  the 
greatest  energy  the  apologists  proclaimed  it  to  be 
the  religion  of  the  spirit,  of  freedom  and   of  absolute 

Christian    morality.     The  whole  positive  material  of  Christian- 
Teaching  ^  ■*■ 

formed.  *ty>  however,  was  transformed  into  a  great  scheme  of 
evidence;  religion  did  not  obtain  its  content  from 
historical  facts — it  received  it  from  Divine  revela- 
tion, which  is  self- witnessing  in  the  creature-reason 
and  freedom  of  mankind — but  the  historical  facts 
serve  for  the  attestation  of  religion,  for  its  elucida- 
tion^ as  against  its  partial  obscuration,  and  for  its 
universal  spreading. 

And  that  was  what  the  majority  were  seeking. 
In  what  religion  and  morality  consist,  that  they 
believed  they  knew;  but  that  these  are  realities, 
that  their  rewards  and  punishments  are  sure,  that 
the  true  religion  excludes  all  forms  of  polytheism  and 
idolatry,  were  claims  for  which  they  had  no  guaran- 
tee. Christianity  as  an  actual  revelation  brought 
the  certainty  they  desired.  It  gave  to  the  highest 
product  of  Greek  philosophy  and  to  the  sovereignty 
of  theistic  morality  victory  and  permanence;  it  gave 
to  this  philosophy  as  knowledge  of  the  world  and  as 
morality  for  the  first  time  the  courage  to  free  itself 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  119 

from  the  polytheism  of  the  past  and  to  descend  from 
the  plane  of  the  learned  to  the  plane  of  the  common 
people. 

The  apologists  were  in  contrast  with  the  gnostics  Apologists 

Conserva- 

conservative,  inasmuch  as  they  were  not  really  dis-  tive- 
posed  to  investigate  at  any  point  the  traditions  of  the 
Church  or  to  make  the  content  of  the  same  compre- 
hensible. The  argument  from  prophecy,  now  how- 
ever formulated  in  the  most  external  way,  allied 
them  with  the  Church  at  large.  The  gnostics  sought 
in  the  Gospel  a  new  religion,  the  apologists  by 
means  of  the  Gospel  were  confirmed  in  their  relig- 
ious moral  sense.  The  former  emphasized  the  re- 
demptive idea  and  made  everything  subordinate  to 
it;  the  latter  brought  all  within  the  radius  of  natural 
religion  and  relegated  the  redemptive  idea  to  the 
circumference.  Both  hellenized  the  Gospel;  but 
only  the  speculations  of  the  apologists  were  at  once 
legitimized,  because  they  directed  everything  against 
polytheism  and  left  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
kerygma  untouched  and  emphasized  in  the  clearest 
manner  freedom  and  responsibility.  Apologists  and  Apologists 
gnostics  carried  forward  the  work  which  the  Alex-  ^jjjgJSJ 
andrian  Jewish  thinker  (Philo)  had  begun  as  regards  Phiio" 
to  the  Old  Testament  religion ;  but  they  divided  the 
work,  so  to  speak,  between  them :  The  latter  devot- 
ing themselves  rather  to  the  Platonic-religious  side 
of  the  problem  and  the  former  to  the  stoic-rational- 
istic side.  The  division  however  could  not  be  sharply 
made ;  no  apologist  entirely  overlooked  the  redemp- 


120        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

tive  idea  (redemption  from  the  power  of  the  demons 
^endl?     can  De  wrought  only  by  the  Logos) .     W  ith  Irenaeus 
iems°      begins  again  in  the  theological  work  of  the  Church 
the  blending  of  the  two  problems ;  not  only  the  con- 
test with  gnosticism  made  this  necessary,  but  the 
spirit  of  the  age  turned  more  and  more  from  the 
stoic  morality  to  the  Neo-Platonic  mysticism,  within 
whose  shell  lay  concealed  the  impulse  toward  religion. 
it^fpS-       2.  Christianity    is   philosophy    and    revelation: 
and  Reve-    This  is  the  thesis  of  every  apologist  from  Aristides 

lation : 

Thesisof    to   Minucius   Felix.     In  the  declaration  that  it  is 

Apologists. 

philosophy,  the  apologists  encountered  the  wide- 
spread opinion  among  the  churches,  that  it  is  the 
antithesis  to  all  worldly  wisdom  (see  the  testimony 
of  Celsus) ;  but  they  reconciled  this  difference  through 
the  friendly  understanding  that  Christianity  is  of 
supernatural  origin  and  as  revelation,  notwithstand- 
ing its  rational  content,  cannot  be  apprehended  save 
by  a  divinely  illumined  understanding.  On  the 
principles  underlying  this  conception  the  apologists 
were  all  agreed  (Aristides,  Justin,  Tatian,  Melito, 
Athenagoras,  Theophilus,  Tertullian,  Minucius  Felix 
and  others  whose  writings  are  attributed  to  Justin) . 
The  strongest  impress  of  stoic  morality  and  rational- 
ism is  found  in  Minucius;  Justin's  writings  (Apol- 
ogy and  Dialogue)  have  the  most  in  common  with 
the  faith  of  the  churches.  On  the  other  hand  Justin 
and  Athenagoras  think  the  most  favorably  of  philos- 
ophy and  of  philosophers,  while  in  the  succeeding 
time  the  judgment  became  ever  harsher  (already  by 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  121 

Tatian)  without  changing  the  view  of  the  philosophic 
content  of  Christianity.  The  general  conviction  may  Summary, 
be  thus  summarized :  Christianity  is  philosophy,  be- 
cause it  has  a  rational  element  and  because  it  gives  a 
satisfactory  and  generally  comprehensible  answer  to 
those  questions  in  regard  to  which  all  true  philoso- 
phers have  exercised  themselves;  but  it  is  not  a  phi- 
losophy,— indeed  it  is  the  direct  antithesis  to  philos- 
ophy, so  far  as  it  is  free  from  all  mere  notions  and 
opinions  and  refutes  polytheism,  i.e.,  originates 
from  a  revelation,  therefore  has  a  supernatural,  Di- 
vine origin,  upon  which  finally  the  truth  and  cer- 
tainty of  its  teaching  alone  rest.  This  contrast  with 
philosophy  shows  itself  also  above  all  in  the  unphil- 
osophical  form  in  which  the  Christian  preaching 
went  forth.  This  thesis  permits  in  detail  various 
judgments  in  regard  to  the  concrete  relation  of 
Christianity  and  philosophy,  and  it  urged  the  apolo- 
gists tp  labor  at  the  problem,  why  then  the  rational 
needed  to  be  revealed  at  all?  The  following  general 
convictions  however  may  also  be  laid  down  here: 
(1)  Christianity  is,  according  to  the  apologists,  rev-  Christian- 
elation,  i.e.  it  is  the  Divine  wisdom  which  from  of  elation, 
old  has  been  proclaimed  through  the  prophets  and 
possesses  through  its  origin  absolute  trustworthiness, 
which  is  also  clearly  evidenced  in  the  fulfilment 
of  the  words  of  the  prophets  (the  evidence  from 
prophecy  as  the  only  sure  evidence;  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  content  of  religion,  but  is  an  accompani- 
ment to  it).     As  Divine  wisdom  Christianity  stands 


122       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Christian- 
ity is  Phi- 
losophy. 


Revelation 
Necessary. 


Philoso- 
phers In- 
debted to 
Prophets. 


Christ 
only  Em- 
phasized 
Prophets. 


opposed  to  all  natural  and  philosophical  knowledge 
and  makes  an  end  to  such.  (2)  Christianity  is  the 
manifestation  which  accords  with  the  natural,  though 
darkened  reason  of  mankind;  it  includes  all  the 
essential  elements  of  philosophy — it  is  therefore  the 

philosophy  (^  za#'  yßöiS  tptloaofia^  i]  ßapßaptxyj  (filo<nxpia) 

— and  it  assists  mankind  to  realize  the  truths  which 
philosophy  contains.  (3)  Revelation  of  the  rational 
was  and  is  necessary,  because  mankind  has  fallen 
under  the  dominion  of  demons.  (4)  The  efforts  of 
the  philosophers  to  discover  the  true  knowledge  have 
been  fruitless,  which  is  above  all  clearly  shown  by 
the  fact  that  neither  polytheism  nor  the  wide-spread 
immorality  has  been  overthrown  by  them.  So  far  as 
the  philosophers  have  discovered  any  truth,  they  are 
indebted  for  it  to  the  prophets  (thus  the  Jewish  Alex- 
andrian philosophers  already  taught)  from  whom 
they  borrowed  it;  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  uncertain 
whether  they  also  have  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
any  fragment  of  the  truth  through  the  sporadic  activ- 
ity of  the  Logos  (see  Justin  on  Socrates) ;  certain  is 
it,  however,  that  many  apparent  truths  of  the  philos- 
ophers are  the  aping  of  truth  by  evil  spirits  (to  these 
also  the  whole  of  polytheism  was  referred,  which  is 
partly  also  the  aping  of  Christian  institutions).  (5) 
The  acknowledgment  of  Christ  is  simply  included 
in  the  acknowledgment  of  the  prophetic  wisdom ;  a 
new  content  the  teaching  of  the  prophets  did  not 
receive  through  Christ;  he  only  gave  it  currency 
and  energy  (triumph  over  the  demons;   Justin  and 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  123 

Tertullian  recognize  a  new  element  in  the  Gospel) . 
(G)  The  practical  testing  of  Christianity  lies,  (a)  in 
its  apprehensibility  (the  unlearned  and  women  be- 
come wise),  (b)  in  the  expulsion  of  demons,  (c)  in  its 
ability  to  produce  a  holy  life.  In  the  apologists 
Christianity  accordingly  despoiled  antiquity,  i.e.  the 
proceeds  of  the  monotheistic  knowledge  and  ethics  of 

the  Greek  :  offa  ~apd  r^aai  xaXaig  eipyrat  rj/xwv  rwv  xptffrtav&v 

in-i  (Justin) .     It  dates  itself  from  the  beginning  of   Christian- 

00  ityOklas 

the  world.  Everything  true  and  good  that  mankind  the  W,"M 
extols  came  through  Divine  revelation,  but  is,  at  the 
same  time,  truly  human,  because  it  is  only  a  clearer 
expression  of  that  which  men  find  within  themselves. 
It  is  at  the  same  time  Christian,  since  Christianity 
is  nothing  but  the  teaching  of  revelation.  One  cannot 
think  of  another  form  in  which  the  claim  of  Chris- 
tianity to  be  the  world-religion  comes  out  so  strongly 
(hence  the  effort  to  reconcile  the  world-empire  with 
the  new  religion) ,  nor  can  one  think  of  a  second  form 
in  which  the  specific  content  of  the  traditional  Chris- 
tianity is  so  thoroughly  neutralized.  But  its  truly  SjjjfJjJJJ1 
epoch-making  character  lay  in  this,  that  the  spiritual  WjuiiteHg- 
culture  of  the  race  appeared  now  to  be  reconciled  and 
allied  with  religion:  Revelation  is  wholly  an  out- 
ward, miraculous  communication  (passivity  of  the 
prophets)  of  rational  truth ;  but  rational  truth — theis- 
tic  cosmology  and  morality — was  set  forth  simply 
dogmatically  and  as  the  common  possession  of  man- 
kind. 

3.  The  "  dogmas  "  of  Christianity — this  conception 


ion. 


124        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Dogmas 
are  Ration- 
al Truths. 


Dogmas 

Set  Forth 

Knowledge 

of  God. 


and  the  other,  ^eokoyla^  were  first  introduced  into 
philosophical  language  by  the  apologists — are  those 
rational  truths  which  are  revealed  by  the  prophets  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  which  are  all  summed  up 
in  Christ  [Xptards  X6yo<s  xai  v6fio<s)  and  have  as  their 
consequent  true  virtue  and  eternal  life  (God,  liberty 
and  virtue,  eternal  reward  and  eternal  punishment, 
i.e.  Christianity  as  a  monotheistic  cosmology,  as  a 
doctrine  of  liberty  and  morals,  as  a  doctrine  of  re- 
demption ;  the  latter  however  is  not  clearly  set  forth). 
The  instruction  is  referred  back  to  God,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  virtuous  life  (of  righteousness)  God 
must  needs  have  left  to  men.  The  prophets  and 
Christ  are  therefore  fountains  of  righteousness,  in 
so  far  as  they  are  Divine  teachers.  Christianity 
may  be  defined  as  the  God-transmitted  knowledge  of 
God,  and  as  virtuous  conformity  to  rational  law,  in 
the  longing  and  striving  after  eternal  life  and  in  the 
certainty  of  reward.  Through  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  and  through  the  doing  of  good,  men  become 
righteous  and  partake  of  the  highest  blessedness. 
Knowledge  rests  upon  faith  in  the  Divine  revela- 
tion. This  revelation  has  also  the  genius  and  the 
power  of  redemption,  in  so  far  as  the  fact  is  unques- 
tionable that  mankind  cannot  without  it  triumph 
over  the  dominion  of  the  demons.  All  this  is  con- 
ceived from  the  Greek  standpoint. 

(a)  The  dogmas  which  set  forth  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  the  world  are  dominated  by  the  funda- 
mental thought,   that  over  against  the  world  as  a 


THE   LAYING   OF    THE   FOUNDATION.  125 

created,  conditioned  and  transient  existence  stands 
the  Self- Existent,  Unchangeable  and  Eternal,  who  is 
the  primal  Cause  of  the  world.  He  has  no  attri- 
butes, which  are  attributable  to  the  world ;  therefore 
he  is  exalted  above  every  name  and  has  in  himself 
no  distinctions  (the  Platonic  expressions  concerning 
God  were  held  as  incomparably  good).  He  is  ac- 
cordingly one  and  alone,  spiritual  and  faultless 
and  therefore  perfect;  in  purely  negative  predicates 
he  is  best  characterized ;  and  yet  he  is  Origin  (Cause) 
and  the  Fulness  of  all  existences;  he  is  Will  and 
Life,  therefore  also  the  kind  Giver.  The  following 
theses  remain  fixed  with  the  apologists  as  regards 
the  relation  of  God  to  the  world:  (1)  that  God  is  to  Summary, 
be  thought  of  primarily  as  the  final  Cause,  (2)  that 
the  principle  of  the  ethically  good  is  the  Principle  of 
the  world,  (3)  that  the  Principle  of  the  world,  i.e. 
the  Godhead,  as  immortal  and  eternal,  forms  the 
contrast  to  the  world  as  the  perishable.  The  dogmas 
concerning  God  are  not  set  forth  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  redeemed  Church,  but  on  the  basis  of  a 
certain  conception  of  the  world  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  the  moral  nature  of  man  on  the  other ;  which 
latter  however  is  a  manifestation  within  the  cosmos. 
The  cosmos  is  everywhere  permeated  with  reason  cosmos 
and  order  (opposition  to  gnosticism) ;  it  bears  the 
stamp  of  the  Logos  (as  a  reflection  of  a  higher  world 
and  as  a  product  of  a  rational  Will) .  The  material 
also  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  its  composition  is  not 
evil,  but  was  created  by  God.     Still  the  apologists 


son. 


126        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

did  not  make  God  the  immediate  creator  of  the 
world,  but  the  personified  Divine  Reason  perceptible 
in  the  world  and  inserted  between  God  and  the 
world.  This  was  done  with  no  reference  to  Christ 
and  with  no  thought  (in  the  gnostic  sense)  of  sepa- 
rating God  and  the  world;  the  conception  of  the 
Logos  was  already  at  hand  in  the  religious  philos- 
ophy of  the  day,  and  the  lofty  idea  of  God  required 
a  being,  which  should  represent  the  actuality  and 
the  many-sided  activity  of  God,  without  doing  vio- 
lence to  his  unchangeableness  (a  finer  dualism :  The 
The  Logos.  Logos  is  the  hypostasis  of  the  active  energizing 
Reason,  which  makes  it  possible  to  think  of  the  God- 
head itself  as  resting  Onepouffcov  •  he  is  both  the  re- 
vealing Word  of  God,  the  Divine  manifesting  him- 
self audibly  and  visibly  upon  the  earth,  and  the 
creating  Reason  which  expresses  himself  in  the  work 
of  his  own  hands ;  he  is  the  Principle  of  the  tvorld 
and  of  revelation  at  the  same  time.  All  this  is 
not  new ;  yet  the  Logos  was  not  proclaimed  by  the 
apologists  as  a  vooößevov,  but  as  the  surest  reality). 
Beyond  the  carrying  out  of  the  thought  that  the 
principle  of  the  cosmos  is  also  the  principle  of  reve- 
lation the  majority  did  not  go;  their  dependence 
upon  the  faith  of  the  Church  is  evidenced,  how- 
ever, by  their  failure  to  clearly  distinguish  between 

Hlo01os  °f  tlie  Lo£os  and  tlie  Holv  Spirit.  The  history  of  the 
Logos  is  as  follows:  God  was  never  akoyos;  he  ever 
had  the  Logos  within  himself  as  his  reason  and  as 
the  potentiality  (idea,  energy)  of  the  world  (notwith- 


THE   LAYING  OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  127 

standing  all  negative  assertions,  God  and  the  world 
were  somehow  bound  together) .  For  the  sake  of  the 
creation  God  put  the  Logos  forth  from  himself  (sent 
him  forth,  permitted  him  to  go  forth),  i.e.  through  a 
free  simple  act  of  his  will  generated  him  out  of  his 
own  Being.  He  is  now  an  independent  hypostasis 
(>chö?  £x  &eod)  whose  real  essence  (otWa)  is  identical 
with  that  of  God ;  he  is  not  separated  from  God  but 
only  severed,  and  is  also  not  a  mere  mode  or  attribute 
of  God;  but  is  the  independent  result  of  the  self- 
unfolding  of  God,  and,  although  being  the  compen- 
dium of  the  Divine  Reason,  he  did  not  rob  the  Father 
of  his  reason ;  he  is  God  and  Lord,  possesses  the  es- 
sence of  the  Divine  Nature,  although  he  is  a  second 

being  by  the  Side  of   God  (aptOpLtp  erepov  r«,  tied?  dsure- 

po$);  but  his  personality  had  a  beginning  ("fnit 
tempus,  cum patri  filiusnon  fuit"  Tertull.).    Since    Begotten 

God. 

then  he  had  a  beginning,  and  the  Father  did  not,  he 
is,  as  compared  with  the  Father,  a  Creature,  the 
begotten,  created,  manifested  God.  The  subordina- 
tion lies,  not  in  his  essence  (for  monotheism  would 
then  have  been  destroyed) ,  but  in  the  manner  of  his 
origin  {tpyov  npcuroroxov  zoo  Trarpos) .  This  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  go  forth  into  the  finite  as  rea- 
son, revelation,  and  activity,  while  the  Father  re- 
mains in  the  obscurity  of  his  unchangeableness. 
With  the  going  forth  of  the  Logos  begins  the  reali- 
zation of  the  world-idea.     He  is  the  Creator  and  to  a     creator 

and   Proto- 

degree  the  Prototype  of  the  world  (the  one  and  spir-       ^P0- 
itual  Being  among  the  many  sentiment  creatures), 


128        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Doctrines 
of  Free- 
dom. 


Virtue. 


Righteous- 
ness. 


which  had  its  origin  from  nothing.  Man  is  the  true 
aim  in  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  the  true  aim  of 
man  is  to  attain  unto  the  Divine  essence  through 
the  reason  (image  of  God)  and  freedom  created  with- 
in him.  As  spirit-embodied  beings  men  are  neither 
mortal  nor  immortal,  but  capable  of  death  and  of 
eternal  life.  In  the  doctrines,  that  God  is  the  abso- 
lute Lord  of  the  material  world,  that  evil  is  not  in- 
herent in  matter  but  originated  in  time  and  through 
the  free  decision  of  the  spirit  (angel),  finally  that 
the  world  advances  toward  the  light,  dualism  ap- 
peared to  be  fundamentally  overcome  in  the  cos- 
mology. Yet  it  was  not  overcome  in  so  far  as  the 
sentient  was  actually  looked  upon  as  evil.  The 
apologists  held  this  teaching  in  regard  to  God,  the 
Logos,  the  world  and  mankind  as  the  essential  con- 
tent of  Christianity  (of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the 
preaching  of  Christ) . 

(b)  The  doctrines  concerning  freedom,  virtue, 
righteousness  and  their  reward  were  so  held  that 
God  was  looked  upon  simply  as  Creator  and  Judge, 
and  not  as  the  principle  of  a  new  life  (reminiscences 
in  Justin).  The  äyfrapaia  is  at  the  same  time  reward 
and  gift,  linked  with  correct  knowledge  and  virtue. 
Virtue  is  withdrawal  from  the  world  (man  must  re- 
nounce his  natural  inclinations)  and  exaltation  in 
every  respect  above  the  senses,  and  love.  The  moral 
law  is  the  law  for  the  perfect,  exalted  spirit,  which, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  the  loftiest  being  upon  the  earth, 
is  too  lofty  for  the  same.     The  spirit  should  hasten 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  129 

from  the  earth  to  the  Father  of  Lights ;  in  equanim- 
ity, fulness,  purity  and  goodness,  which  are  the  nec- 
essary consequences  of  right  knowledge,  it  should 
make  it  manifest  that  it  has  already  overcome  the 
world.  The  vicious  die  the  eternal  death,  the  virtu-  Rewards, 
ous  obtain  the  eternal  life  (strong  emphasis  upon  the 
idea  of  the  judgment;  recognition  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  of  the  virtuous ;  the  idea  of  right- 
eousness is  not  pushed  beyond  the  legal  require- 
ments) . 

(c)  God  is  Redeemer  in  so  far  as  he  (although  the  Gd4merf 
cosmos  and  the  reason  are  sufficient  revelations)  has 
still  sent  forth  direct  miraculous  dispensations  of  the 
truth.  Inasmuch  as  the  fallen  angels  at  the  very 
beginning  gained  the  mastery  over  mankind  and 
entangled  men  in  sensuality  and  polytheism,  God 
sent  his  prophets  to  enlighten  man's  darkened  per- 
ception and  to  strengthen  his  freedom.  The  Logos 
worked  directly  within  them,  and  many  apologists 
in  their  writings  were  satisfied  with  a  reference  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  to  the  evidence  from  proph- 
ecy. But  all  indeed  recognized  with  Justin  the 
complete  revelation  of  the  Logos  in  Jesus  Christ,  ^f]°esd^ 
through  whom  prophecy  is  fulfilled  and  the  truth 
made  easily  accessible  to  all  (adoration  of  Christ  as 
the  revealed  Logos).  Justin  still  more  zealously 
defended  the  adoration  of  a  crucified  "  man "  and 
added  many  things  from  the  traditions  concerning 
Christ  that   make  their  appearance   first  again   in 

Irenaeus. 
9 


Christ. 


130       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BEGINNINGS  OF  AN  ECCLESIASTICO  -  THEOLOGICAL 
EXPOSITION  AND  REVISION  OF  THE  RULE  OF 
FAITH  IN  OPPOSITION  TO  GNOSTICISM  ON  THE 
PRESUPPOSITION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  AND 
THE  CHRISTIAN  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  APOLO- 
GISTS: IRENES  US,  TERTULLIAN,  HIPPOLYTUS, 
CYPRIAN,    NOVATIAN. 

irengeus.  l.  Iren^eus,  a  pupil  of  Polycarp  and  a  teacher 
from  Asia  Minor,  who  resided  in  Lyons  and  was 
conversant  with  the  traditions  of  the  Roman  church, 
set  forth  in  his  great  anti-gnostic  work  the  apos- 
tolic norms  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  also  made 
an  attempt  to  develop  a  system  of  Church  doctrine. 

combined    jje  sought  to  combine  the  apologetic  theology  with 

Apologetic  °  j.  a  ou 

J^fe   a  theological  revision  of  the  baptismal  confession; 

Session0  he  took  from  the  two  Testaments  that  material 
which  served  not  alone  to  attest  his  philosophical 
teaching ;  like  the  gnostics  he  placed  the  thought  of 
the  realized  redemption  in  the  centre  and  sought 
thereby  at  the  same  time  to  express  the  primitive 
Christian  eschatological  hopes.  In  this  way  arose 
a  "faith"  of  unlimited  extent,  which  was  to  be  the 
faith  of  the  Church,  of  the  learned  and  unlearned, 
composed  of  the  most  divers  elements — the  philo- 
sophi co-apologetic,  Biblical,  Christosophic,  gnostic- 
anti-gnostic  and  materialistic-fantastical  (the  pistis 
should  at  the  same  time  be  the  gnosis  and  vice  versa ; 


THE   LAYING    OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  131 

all  consciousness  that  rational  theology  and  fides 
credenda  are  irreconcilable  magnitudes  was  want- 
ing; everything  stood  upon  an  even  plane;  specula- 
tion was   mistrusted  and   yet  was  not   discarded). 

This   complicated    structure    received    its    outward  complicat- 
ed Struc- 


ture. 


unity  through  the  reference  of  all  declarations  to  the 
rule  of  faith  and  the  two  Testaments,  and  its  in- 
ward unity  through  the  strong  emphasis  of  two  fun- 
damental thoughts:  That  the  Creator-God  is  also 
the  Redeemer-God,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Redeemer  solely  on  this  account,  because  he  is  the 
incarnate  God  {filius  dei  filius  hominis  f actus) . 
In  the  carrying  out  of  the  latter  thought,  Irenseus  is 
superior 'to  his  pupils,  Tertullian  and  Hippolytus. 
For  the  former  especially  was  entirely  incompetent 
to  unite  the  apologetico-rational,  the  historico-re- 
demptive,  and  the  eschatological  ranges  of  thought, 
but  he  developed,  conformably  to  his  juristic  temper 
and  equipments,  a  well-rounded  system  in  certain 
particulars,  which  was  very  influential  in  the  sub- 
sequent times  (terminology  of  the  trinitarian  and 
Christological  dogmas ;  giving  Occidental  dogmatics 
a  juristic  trend). 

The  joining  of  the  old  idea  of  salvation  with  the    christian- 

"  °  lty  Re- 

thoUglltS  of  the  New  Testament  (salvation-history)     dthmoughn 

and  with  the  apologetic  rationalism  was  the  work  of       God. 
Irenaeus.     Christianity  is  to  him  real  redemption, 
brought  about  by  the  Creator-God.     This  redemp- 
tion is  to  him  recapitidatio,  i.e.  restoration  to  a 
living  unity  of   that  which   has  been   unnaturally 


132       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP  DOGMA. 


Incarna- 
tion Fun- 
damental 

Do.srma. 


Gained 
Ready  Ac- 
ceptance. 


separated  through  death  and  sin ;  especially,  as  re- 
gards mankind,  the  restoration  of  human  nature  unto 
the  Divine  image  through  the  gift  of  imperishable- 
ness.  This  salvation  is  accomplished,  not  through  the 
Logos  in  itself,  but  solely  through  Jesus  Christ,  and, 
indeed,  through  Jesus  Christ  in  so  far  as  he  was  God 
and  became  man.  In  that  he  took  upon  himself  hu- 
manity he  has  inseparably  united  and  blended  the 
same  with  Divinity.  The  incarnation  is  therefore 
along  with  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  God  the 
fundamental  dogma.  Thus  the  historical  Christ 
stands  (as  with  the  gnostics  and  Marcion)  at  the 
centre,  not  as  the  teacher  (although  IrensBus'  rational 
scheme  in  many  respects  intersected  his  realistic 
theory  of  redemption) ,  but  by  virtue  of  his  constitu- 
tion as  the  God-man.  All  else  in  the  Holy  Scriptures 
is  preparatory  history  (not  simply  ciphers  in  the 
evidence  from  prophecy),  and  the  history  of  Christ 
(kerygma)  himself  is  the  unfolding  of  the  process 
of  the  incarnation  (not  simply  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy).  Although  the  apologists  in  reality  did 
not  pose  the  question  "  cur  dens  homo  "  at  all,  yet 
Irenaeus  made  it  fundamental  and  answered  it  with 
the  intoxicating  statement :  "  That  we  might  become 
Gods".  This  answer  was  accordingly  highly  satis- 
factory, because,  (1)  it  indicated  a  specific  Christian 
benefit  from  salvation,  (2)  it  was  of  like  rank  with 
the  gnostic  conception ;  indeed  it  even  went  beyond 
the  latter  in  its  compass  of  territory  regarding  deifi- 
cation, (3)  it  met  the  eschatological  trend  of  Chris- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  133 

tianity  half-way,  yet  at  the  same  time  it  could  take 
the  place  of  the  fantastic-eschatological  expectations, 
(4)  it  expressed  the  mystic  Neo-Platonic  trend  of  the 
time  and  gave  the  same  the  greatest  satisfaction,  (5) 
it  replaced  the  waning  intellectualism  (rationalism) 
by  the  certain  hope  of  a  supernatural  transformation 
of  our  nature,  which  will  make  it  capable  of  appro- 
priating that  which  is  above  reason,  (6)  it  gave  to  the 
traditional  historical  utterances  concerning  Christ, 
and  the  entire  previous  history  as  well,  a  firm  founda- 
tion and  a  definite  aim,  and  made  possible  the  con- 
ception of  a  gradual  unfolding  of  the  history  of 
salvation  (ohovoßia  #eoZ>;  appropriation  of  Pauline 
ideas,  distinguishing  of  the  two  Testaments,  vital 
interest  in  the  kerygma).  The  moral  and  eschato- 
logical  interest  was  now  balanced  by  a  real  religious 
and  Christological  interest :  .The  restoration  of  hu- 
man nature  unto  the  Divine  image  per  adoptionem. 
"  Through  his  birth  as  a  man  the  eternal  Word  of 
God  secured  the  legacy  of  life  for  those  who,  through 
the  natural  birth,  had  inherited  death  ".  The  carry- 
ing out  of  this  thought  is  indeed  crossed  by  many 
things  foreign  to  it.  Irenseus  and  his  pupils  warded  iren^us 
off  the  acute  hellenization  by  the  bringing  in  of  the  '  warded 
two  Testaments,  by  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  creation 
and  redemption,  by  their  opposition  to  docetism; 
they  taught  the  Church  anew  that  Christianity  is 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ;  but  on  the  other  hand  they 
promoted  the  hellenization  by  their  superstitious 
conception  of  redemption,  and  by  turning  the  inter- 


off  Hellen- 
ization. 


134       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Declared 
Dualism 
Destroyed 
Omnipo- 
tence of 
God. 


Accept 

Gnostic 

Demiurge. 


Doctrine  of 
God  Out- 
lined for 

All  Time 


est  toward  the  natures  rather  than  toward  the  living 
Person. 

2.  The  early  Catholic  fathers,  in  opposition  to  the 
gnostic  theses,  declared  that  dualism  destroys  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  therefore  in  general  the  idea  of 
God,  that  the  emanations  are  a  mythological  fancy 
and  endanger  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  that  the  at- 
tempt to  ascertain  the  inner  Divine  constitution  is 
audacious,  that  the  gnostics  could  not  avoid  placing 
the  final  origin  of  sin  in  the  pleroma,  that  criticism 
of  the  constitution  of  the  cosmos  is  impertinent,  the 
same  is  much  rather  an  evidence  of  wisdom  and  good- 
ness, that  docetism  gives  the  lie  to  the  Deity,  that 
the  freedom  of  man  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  evil 
is  a  necessary  means  of  correction,  that  goodness  and 
justice  do  not  exclude  each  other,  etc.  Everywhere 
they  argue  accordingly  for  the  gnostic  demiurge  as 
against  the  gnostic  Redeemer-God.  They  refer 
above  all  to  the  two  Testaments,  and  have  therefore 
been  eulogistically  called  "  Scripture  theologians  " ; 
but  the  "religion  of  the  Scriptures",  whereby  the 
latter  is  wilfully  interpreted  as  inspired  testimony 
(Irenseus  looks  askance  at  the  gnostic  exegesis,  but 
comes  very  near  making  use  of  it)  gives  no  guarantee 
of  contact  with  the  Gospel.  The  relation  between 
the  rule  of  faith  and  the  Scriptures  (now  super-, 
now  sub-ordination)  also  did  not  come  to  a  clear 
statement. 

In  the  doctrine  of  God  the  main  outlines  were 
firmly  drawn  for  all  time.     A  middle  way  between 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  135 

the  disavowal  of  knowledge  and  an  over-curious 
speculation  was  much  prized.  In  Irenseus  are  found 
tendencies  to  make  love,  i.e.  Jesus  Christ,  the  prin- 
ciple of  knowledge.  God  is  to  be  known  through 
revelation,  whereby  the  knowledge  of  the  world  is 
declared,  now  to  be  sufficient,  and  now  insufficient; 
For  Irenseus,  the  apologist,  it  is  sufficient,  for  Ire- 
nseus, the  Christologist,  it  is  not;  but  a  God  with- 
out a  creation  is  a  phantom ;  always  must  the  cos- 
mical  precede  the  religious.  The  Creator- God  is 
the  starting-point,  blasphemy  of  the  Creator  is  the 
highest  blasphemy.  Hence  also  the  apologetic  idea 
of  God  is  virtually  made  use  of  (God  the  negation 
and  the  Cause  of  the  cosmos) ;  but  Irenseus  is  still 
enthused  by  it,  since  a  real  interest  is  at  hand  as 
regards  the  historical  revelation.  Especially  was  it 
pointed  out  against  Marcion,  that  goodness  requires 
justice. 

In  the  Logos-doctrine  Tertullian  and  Hippolytus  Logos-Doc- 
trine; Ter- 
manifest  a  deeper  apologetic  interest  than  Irenseus.   tuiiian  and 

They  adopt  the  whole  mass  of  apologetic  material  tus' 
(Tertull.  Apolog.  21);  but  they  give  it  a  more  par- 
ticular reference  to  Jesus  Christ  (Tertull.  de  came 
Christi  and  adv.  Prax.).  Accordingly  Tertullian 
fashioned  the  formulas  of  the  later  orthodoxy,  in 
that  he  introduced  the  conceptions  substance  and 
person,  and  notwithstanding  his  very  elaborate  sub- 
ordinationism  and  his  merely  economical  construction 
of  the  trinity,  he  still  hit  upon  ideas  concerning  the 
relations  of  the  three  Persons  which  could  be  fully 


136        OUTLINES   OP   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


una  sub-  recognized  upon  the  soil  of  the  Nicene  Creed  ("  una 
Tsoua?'"  substantia,  tres  personal  ") .  The  unity  of  the  God- 
head was  set  forth  in  the  una  substantia;  the  dis- 
position of  the  one  substance  among  the  three  Per- 
sons (trinitas,  rptds  first  by  Theophilus)  did  not 
destroy  the  unity  (the  gnostic  eons-speculation  is 
here  confined  to  three  in  number).  Alread}7  it  was 
considered  a  heresy  to  maintain  that  God  is  a  numer- 
ical unity.  But  the  self -unfolding  (not  partitioning) 
of  the  Godhead  had  made  a  beginning  (the  realiza- 
tion of  the  world-idea  is  still  ever  the  main-spring  of 
the  inner  Divine  dispositio) ;  the  Logos  became  a 
distinct  being  ("  secundus  a  deo  constitutus,  perse- 
L?fatioDetr  verans  in  sua  forma");  since  he  is  derivatio,  so  is 
he portio  of  the  Deity  ("pater  tota  substantia"). 
Therefore  notwithstanding  his  unity  of  substance 
(unius  substantial — 6fioob<Tto<s)  he  has  the  charac- 
teristic of  temporality  (the  Son  is  not  the  world-idea 
itself,  although  he  possesses  the  same)  :  He,  the 
Stream,  when  the  revelation  has  accomplished  its 
aim,  will  finally  flow  back  into  its  Fountain.  This 
form  of  statement  is  in  itself  as  yet  not  at  all  distin- 
guishable from  the  Hellenic;  it  was  not  fitted  to 
preserve  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  for  it  is  too  low ;  it 
has  its  importance  merely  in  the  identification  of  the 
historical  Christ  with  this  Logos.  Through  this 
Tertullian  united  the  scientific  idealistic  cosmology 
with  the  declarations  of  the  primitive  Christian 
tradition  concerning  Jesus,  so  that  both  were  to 
him  like  the  wholly  dissimilar  wings  of  one  and  the 


THE   LAYING    OP   THE    FOUNDATION.  137 

same  building.     The  Holy  Spirit  Tertullian  treated      „H?ty 

0  u       x  Spirit. 

merely  according  to  the  schema  of  the  Logos-doctrine, 
— an  advance  upon  the  apologists, — yet  without  any 
trace  of  an  independent  interest  ("  tertias  est  Spiri- 
tus a  deo  et  filio  ",  "  vicaria  visfilii  ",  subordinate  to 
the  Son  as  the  latter  is  to  the  Father,  yet  still  "  unius 
substantice  ") .  Hippolytus  emphasized  the  creature- 
character  of  the  Logos  still  stronger  (Philos.  X,  33 : 

ei  yap   ftsov    <j£    rjftiXrjfts    Tzot7taai  6    #£<??    iowaro  ■   eysi§  tod 

löyou  rd  xapddsiy  pa),  but  did  not  attribute  an  indepen- 
dent prosopon  to  the  Spirit  (adv.  Noet.  14 :  iva  tisov 

ipu>,  7Zf)6<Tto7za  de  duo^  ofcovofita   dk  rpiziqv  rijV  y/>pw  too  dytou 

7tV£Up.aTO?)  . 

While  Tertullian  and  Hippolytus  simply  add  the  ^S^"s 
Christ  of  the  kerygmas  to  the  complete  Logos-doc-  tSuft?and 
trine  already  at  hand,  Irenseus  took  his  point  of  de-  Tus0  y 
parture  from  the  God-Christ,  who  became  man.  The 
"  Logos  "  to  him  is  more  a  predicate  of  Christ  than 
the  subject  itself.  His  declarations  concerning 
Christ  were  won  from  the  standpoint  of  the  doctrine 
of  redemption;  the  apologetic  Logos-doctrine  even 
troubled  him;  but  he  could  not  rid  himself  of  it, 
since  redemption  is  recapitulatio  of  the  creation, 
and  since  John  1 :  1  teaches  that  Christ  is  the  Logos. 
However,  he  rejected  from  principle  every  -pofiu),ih 
emanation  and  theological  speculation.  Christ  is 
the  eternal  Son  of  God  (no  temporal  coming-forth) ; 
he  is  the  eternal  self-revelation  of  the  Father ;  there 
exists  between  him  and  God  no  separation.  Yet  so 
greatly  did  he  strive  to  reject  the  eon-speculation — 


138        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

he  also  could  not  quite  see  the  Divine  in  Christ  in 
the  redemption ;  he  was  obliged  to  give  him  a  part 
in  the  creation,  and  then  he  taught  nothing  different 
from  Justin  and  Tertullian.  But  he  always  had  the 
incarnation  in  view,  whose  subject  must  be  the  full 
Divinity.  "God  placed  himself  in  the  relation  of 
Father  to  the  Son,  in  order  to  create,  after  the  like- 
ness of  his  Son,  men  who  should  be  his  sons".  Per- 
haps the  incarnation  was  to  Irenseus  the  highest 
expression  of  purpose  in  the  sonship  of  Christ.  In 
regard  to  the  Holy  Spirit  Irenaeus  spoke  with  the 
greatest  indefiniteness ;  not  once  is  rpui?  found  in  his 
writings. 
D^Seof  In  the  teaching  of  Irenseus  concerning  the  destiny 
Man.  0j  mankind  their  original  state,  fall  and  sin,  the 
divergent  lines  of  thought  become  very  apparent 
(apologetico-moralistic,  Biblico-realistic),  and  have 
characteristically  remained  so  for  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church.  Only  the  first  is  clearly  developed.  Every- 
thing created,  therefore  also  man,  is  in  the  begin- 
ning imperfect.  Perfection  could  only  be  the  destiny 
(native  capacity)  of  mankind.  This  end  is  realized 
through  the  free  decision  of  man  upon  the  basis  of 

cusabiS"    his  God-given  capacity  (image  of  God).     The  prim- 
ami  Advan-    .   . 

tageous.  ltive  man  stumbled  and  fell  into  death ;  but  his  fall 
is  excusable  (he  was  tempted,  he  was  ignorant,  he 
allowed  himself  to  be  seduced  prcetextu  immortali- 
tatis),  and  even  teleologically  necessary.  Disobedi- 
ence has  been  advantageous  for  the  development  of 
man.     In  order  to  become  wise  he  must  see  that  dis- 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  139 

obedience  works  death;  he  must  learn  the  distance 
between  man  and  God,  and  the  right  use  of  freedom. 
It  is  a  question  of  life  and  death ;  the  consequence  of 
sin  is  that  which  is  really  dreadful.  But  the  good- 
ness of  God  showed  itself  at  once,  as  well  in  the  re- 
moval of  the  tree  of  life,  as  in  the  ordaining  of  tem- 
poral death.  Man  regains  his  destiny,  when  he  de- 
cides freely  for  the  good,  and  that  he  can  still  ever 
do.  The  significance  of  the  prophets  and  of  Christ 
reduces  itself  here,  as  by  the  apologists,  to  the  teach- 
ing which  strengthens  freedom  (so  taught  Tertul- 
lian  and  Hippolytus).     The  second  course  of  thought     ireneeus 

Influenced 

by  Irenseus  flowed  out   of  the  gnostic-anti-gnostic    by  Paul. 

recapitulation-theory  and  was   influenced  by  Paul. 

This   encompasses  entire    humanity  as  the    sinful 

Adam,  who  having  fallen  once  cannot  help  himself. 

All  offended  God  in  Adam ;  through  Eve  the  entire 

race  has  become  subject  to  death ;  the  original  end 

is  forfeited  and  God  alone  can  help  by  descending 

again  into  communion  with  us  and  restoring  us  to 

likeness  with  his  Being  (not  out  of  freedom  does 

blessedness  flow,  but  out  of  communion  with  God, 

"  in  quantum  deus  nullius  indiqet,  in  tantum  homo  Christ  sec- 

*  °  ond  Adam. 

indiget  dei  communione " ,  IV.  14,  1).  Christ,  as 
the  second  Adam,  redeems  the  first  Adam  ("  Christus 
libertatem  restauravit"),  in  that  he  step  for  step 
restored  in  bonum,  what  Adam  had  done  in  malum. 
(The  testimony  of  prophecy  is  here  changed  into  a 
history  of  destruction  and  salvation).  This  relig- 
ious, preconceived  historical  view  is  carried  out  in 


140        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Idea  of 
God -Man 
Domi- 
nates. 


Perfect 
Union  Be- 
tween Lo- 
gos and 
Man  Jesus. 


an  almost  naturalistic  way.  From  the  consequence 
of  the  apokatastasis  of  every  individual  man  Ire- 
nseus  was  preserved  only  by  his  moral  train  of 
thought. 

The  idea  of  the  God-man  dominated  this  entire 
scheme.  Ecclesiastical  Christology,  so  far  as  it  em- 
phasizes the  oneness  of  the  Divine  and  human  in 
Christ,  stands  to-day  still  by  Irenseus  (Tertullian  did 
not  so  clearly  see  the  necessity  of  the  oneness) .  Jesus 
Christ  vere  homo  vere  deus,  i.e.,  (1)  he  is  truly 
the  Word  of  God,  God  in  kind,  (2)  this  Word  be- 
came truly  man,  (3)  the  incarnate  Word  is  an  insep- 
arable unity.  This  is  carried  out  against  the 
"ebionites"  and  Valentinians,  who  taught  the  de- 
scent of  one  of  the  many  eons.  The  Son  stands  in 
natural,  and  not  in  adopted  kinship  (the  virgin 
birth  is  recapitulatio:  Eve  and  Mary) ;  his  body  is 
substantially  identical  with  ours;  for  docetism 
menaced  the  redemption  just  as  did  "ebionitism  ". 
Therefore  must  Christ,  in  order  to  be  able  to  restore 
the  whole  man,  also  pass  through  a  full  human  life 
from  birth  to  mature  age  and  to  death.  The  unity 
between  the  Logos  and  his  human  nature  Irenseus 
called,  "  adunitio  verbi  del  ad  plasma"  and  "  com- 
munio  et  commixtio  del  et  hominis".  It  is  to  him 
perfect;  since  he  did  not  care  to  distinguish  what 
the  man  did  from  what  the  Word  did.  On  the  con- 
trary Tertullian,  dependent  upon  Irenseus,  but  not 
viewing  the  realistic  doctrine  of  redemption  as  the 
key  to   Christianity,   used   it   is  true  the  formula, 


THE    LAYING   OF    THE    FOUNDATION.  141 

"homo   deo   mixtus",    but   not   understanding   the 

"  homo  F ACTUS  "  in  the  strict  sense.     He  speaks  (adv.    Two  sub- 
stances 

Prax.)  of  two  substances  of  Christ  (corporalis  et  NfuSCon" 
spiritualis) ,  of  the  "conditio  duarum  substantia- 
rum  "  which  in  their  integrity  persist,  of  the  "  du- 
plex status  domini,  non  confusus,  sed  cujunctus 
in  una  persona — deus  et  homo  ".  Here  is  already 
the  Chalcedon  (juristic)  terminology.  Tertullian 
developed  it  in  endeavoring  to  ward  off  the  thought : 
God  transformed  himself  (so  some  patripassionists) ; 
but  he  did  not  see,  although  he  used  the  old  formulas, 
"  deus  crucifixus  ",  "  nasci  se  vult  deus  ",  that  the 
realistic  redemption  becomes  more  strongly  menaced 
through  the  sharp  separation  of  the  two  natures, 
than  through  the  acceptance  of  a  transformation. 
Indeed  he  only  asserts  the  oneness  and  rejects  the 
idea  that  Christ  is  "  tertiam  quid" .  But  even  Ire- 
nseus  could  not  persuade  himself,  against  his  own 
better  judgment,  to  divide  the  one  Jesus  Christ  after 

the  manner  of  the  gnostics:  (1)  There  are  not  a  few     Two-Na- 
°  x  '  ture  Doc- 

passages  in  the  New  Testament,  which  can  be  re-      trme" 

ferred  only  to  the  humanity  of  Jesus  (not  to  the  God- 
man)  ,  if  the  real  Divinity  on  the  other  hand  is  not 
made  to  suffer  (so  e.g.  the  descent  of  the  Spirit  at 
his  baptism,  his  trembling  and  shaking),  (2)  Ire- 
naeus  also  conceived  of  Christ  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  him  the  new  Adam  (" perfectus  homo"),  who 
possesses  the  Logos,  which  in  certain  acts  in  the 
history  of  Jesus  was  inactive.  The  gnostic  distin- 
guishing of  the   Jesus  xjatibilis  and  the  Christus 


142       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Irenaeus 

Father  of 


«-«%  was  by  Tertullian  explicitly,  and  by  Irenseus 
indirectly,  legitimized.  Thus  arose  the  ecclesias- 
tical two-nature  doctrine.  Hippolytus  stood  be- 
tween the  two  older  teachers. 

However,  the  oneness  was  still  the  penetrating  con- 
of  Facfsy  ception  of  IrensBus.  Since  Christ  became  what  we 
are,  he  as  God-man  likewise  passed  through  and 
suffered  what  we  should  have  suffered.  Christ  is 
not  only  "  salus  et  salvator",  but  also  his  whole  life 
is  a  ivork  of  redemption.  From  his  conception  to 
his  burial  everything  was  inwardly  necessary.  Ire- 
neeus  is  the  father  of  the  "  theology  of  facts  "  in  the 
Church  (Paul  emphasized  only  the  death  and  the 
resurrection).  The  influence  of  the  gnosis  is  unmis- 
takable, and  he  even  uses  the  same  expressions  as  the 
gnostics  when  he  conceives  redemption  as  fully  ac- 
complished,— on  the  one  side,  in  the  mere  manifes- 
tation of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  second  Adam,  on  the 
other,  in  the  mere  knowledge  of  this  manifestation 

(IV.  36,  7:    ">?  yvu)(Ji$  too  uluo  rod  #soy?  fjrt$  rjv   ä(pß-ap<jia\m 

Still  he  emphasizes  the  personal  meritorious  service. 
He  looked  at  the  work  from  many  points  of  view 
(leading  back  into  communion,  restoration  of  free- 
dom, redemption  from  death  and  the  devil,  propitia- 
tion of  God) ;  the  dominating  one  is  the  procuring 
of  the  aipftapaia  (adoption  unto  Divine  life) .  But  how 
uncertain  all  is  to  him,  he  betrays  in  I.  10,  3,  when 
he  attributes  the  question,  Why  did  God  become 
flesh?  to  those  who  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  simple  faith.     He  can  also  still  ever  rest  satis- 


Work  of 
Christ 
Variously 
Inter- 
preted. 


THE    LAYING   OF   THE    FOUNDATION.  143 

fied  with  the  hope  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
and  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  Between  this 
hope  and  the  deification- idea  lies  the  Pauline  view 
(gnosis  of  the  death  on  the  cross) ;  Irenseus  exer- 
cised himself  to  prove  its  legitimateness  (the  death 
of  Christ  is  the  true  redemption) .  Still  he  had  not  ^jeaäf 
reached  the  idea  of  the  atonement  (the  redemption  Atone- 
money  is  not  paid  to  the  devil  upon  his  "  with- 
drawal"); within  the  recapitulation-theory  he  ex- 
presses the  idea,  that  through  disobedience  upon  the 
tree  Adam  became  a  debtor  toward  God,  and  through 
obedience  upon  the  tree  God  became  reconciled. 
Reflections  on  a  substitutional  sacrifice  are  not  found 
in  Irenseus ;  seldom  do  we  find  the  idea  of  sacrificial 
death.  Forgiveness  of  sins  he  did  not  really  recog- 
nize, but  only  the  setting  aside  of  sins  and  their 
consequences.  The  redeemed  become  through  Christ 
bound  together  into  a  true  unity,  into  true  humanity, 
into  the  Church,  whose  head  Christ  is.  In  Tertullian 
and  Hippolytus  the  same  points  of  view  are  found, 
except  that  the  mystic  (recapitulating)  form  of  the  re- 
demption recedes.  They  oscillate  con  amove  between 
the  rational  and  the  Pauline  representation  of  re- 
demption ("  totum  Christiani  nominis  et  pond  us 
et  fructus  mors  Christi",  adv.  Marc.  III.,  8);  but 
Hippolytus  (Philosoph,  fin.)  gave  a  classical  expres-  H*]fe}jJus 
sion  to  the  deification  brought  about  by  Christ,  inter-  S1  Sion! 
weaving  therewith*  the  rational  schema  (knowledge 
redeems).  More  sharply  come  out  in  Tertullian 
the    conceptions,    culpa,    reatns  peccati,   etc. ;    he 


144        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

has  also  already  "  satis  facer  e   deo",    "meritum", 
" promereri  deum  ",  which  Cyprian  carried  out  more 

ivrtuiiian    precisely.     Finally  we  find  in  Tertullian  the  por- 
Bride-      trayal  of  Christ  as  the  Bridegroom  and  the  individ- 

[IdiSiduai  ual  soul  as  the  bride,  a  fatal  modification  of  the 
primitive  Christian  representation  of  the  Church  as 
the  body  of  Christ,  under  the  influence  of  the  Hel- 
lenic representation  (see  also  the  gnostics),  that  the 
Deity  is  the  husband  of  the  soul. 

Esogytol  Very  striking  is  the  impression  made  upon  one  by 
the  eschatology  of  the  early  Catholic  fathers;  for 
it  corresponds  neither  with  their  rational  theology, 
nor  with  their  mysticism,  but  is  still  wholly  archaic. 
They  do  not,  however,  repeat  the  same  in  any  urgent 
way  (perhaps  on  account  of  the  churches,  or  the  re- 
gula,  or  the  Apocalypse  of  John),  but  they  and  the 
Latin  fathers  of  the  3d,  and  of  the  beginning  of  the 
4th,  century  live  and  move  altogether  in   the  hope 

Justin.'  °f  ^ne  earliest  Christian  churches  (like  Papias  and 
Justin).  The  Pauline  eschatology  they  felt  as  a  dif- 
ficulty, the  primitive  Christian,  together  with  its 
grossest  chiliasm,  not  at  all.  This  is  the  clearest 
proof  that  these  theologians  were  only  half-hearted 
about  their  rational  and  mystic  theology,  which  they 
had  been  compelled  to  adopt  in  their  contest  with 
the  gnosis.  They  had  in  fact  two  Christs:  The 
returning  Christ,  who  should  conquer  the  antichrist 
and  set  up  his  judgment  seat  as  the  victorious 
King,  and  the  Logos,  who  was  looked  upon,  now  as 
a  Divine  teacher,  now  as  God-man.     This  very  com- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION. 


145 


plication  recommended  the  new   Church   doctrine. 
The  details  of  the  eschatological  hopes  in  Irenseus  TertuiMn 
(I.V.,  see  also  Melito),  Tertullian   and  Hippolytus      TS!7' 
(de  antichr.)  are  in  the  main  as  stereotyped,  in  par- 
ticulars as  wavering,  as  in  the  earlier  times.     The 
Johannean  Apocalypse,  together  with  its  learned  ex- 
positions, stands  with  Daniel  in  the  foreground  (six, 
or   rather    seven    thousand    years,  heathen    earthly- 
power,  antichrist,  site  in  Jerusalem,  campaign  of  the 
returning  Christ,  victory,  resurrection  of  Christians, 
visible  kingdom  of  joy,  general  resurrection,  judg- 
ment, final  end) .     But  after  the  Montanistic  crisis 
there  arose  in  the  Orient  an  opposition  movement  opposition 

x  x  in  Orient. 

against  this  drama  of  the  future  (the  "  alogoi  ") ;  the 
learned  bishops  of  the  Orient  in  the  3d  century,  above 
all  the  Origenists,  opposed  it,  yes,  even  the  Johannean 
Apocalypse  (Dionysius  Alex.) ;  they  found  however 
tenacious  oppposers  among  the  "  simplices  et  idio- 
tce  "  (Nepos  in  Egypt) .  The  Christian  people  of  the 
Orient  also  unwillingly  suffered  themselves  to  be 
robbed  of  their  old  faith,  they  were  obliged  however 
to  submit  gradually  (the  Apocalypse  disappears  often 
in  the  Oriental  church  canon).  In  the  Occident 
chiliasm  remained  unbroken. 

There  remains  still  the  doctrine  concerning  the 
hvo  Testaments.  The  creation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment threw  a  new  light  upon  the  Old  Testament. 
This  passed  now  no  longer  simply  as  a  Christian 
book  (Barnabas,  Justin),  and  also  not  as  a  book  of 

the  Jewish  God  (Marcion),  but  by  the  side  of  the  old 
10 


Doctrine 
of  Two 
Testa- 
ments. 


146        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

conception  that  it  is  Christian  in  every  line  and 
stands  npon  the  summit  of  the  Christian  revelation, 
was  peacefully  established  the  other  which  is  in- 
consistent with  it,  that  it  was  a  preparatory  stage 
to  Christ  and  the  New  Testament.  This  view,  in 
which  an  historical  conception  faintly  appears,  was 
first  set  forth  by  the  Valentinians  {ep.  Ptolemaei 
ad  Flor  am).     Men  varied  according  to  necessity: 

Ol«!    TpstfL- 

ment  con-  Now  the  Old  Testament  is  held  to  contain  the  whole 

tained  All. 

truth  in  the  form  of  prophecy,  now  it  is  a  legisdatio 
in  servitutem  by  the  side  of  the  new  legisdatio  in 
libertatem,  an  old  transient  covenant,  which  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  new,  and  whose  content  is  the 
history  of  God's  pedagogy  of  the  human  race, — in 
every  portion  of  saving  value  and  yet  transient,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  forecast  of  the  future  and  typi- 
cal. As  over  against  the  gnostic  attacks  the  fathers 
tried  to  set  forth  the  incomparableness  of  the  cere- 
monial laws,  and  Paul  is  distorted  for  the  purpose 
in  order  to  prove  by  him  also  devotion  to  the  law. 
Prophecy,  type,  pedagogy  were  the  decisive  points  of 
view,  and  only  when  men  were  restricted  by  no  op- 
position did  they  admit  that  certain  Old  Testament 
requirements  had  been  abrogated.  In  all  this  there 
lay,  notwithstanding  the  confusion  and  the  contra- 
diction which  persists  even  until  the  present  time,  a 
A»Afi-  real  step  forward.  Men  began  to  make  distinctions 
in  the  Old  Testament,  they  hit  upon  the  idea  of  ad- 
vancing stages  of  truth,  of  historical  conditions  (Ter- 
tullian,  de  orat.  1:  "  quidqu id  retro  fuerat,  aut  de- 


vauce. 


THE   LAYING   OF  THE  FOUNDATION.  147 

mutatum  est  per  Christum  ut  circumcisio,  aut 
suppletum  tit  reliqua  lex,  aut  impletum  ut  pro- 
phetia,  aut  perfection  ut  fides  ipsa").  Inasmuch 
as  two  Testaments  were  now  accepted,  the  specific 
significance  of  the  Christian  covenant  became  more 
prominent  (Tertull.  "  lex  et  prophetae  usque  ad 
Johanne m  "  ;  the  apostles  greater  than  the  prophets) ; 
true,  the  new  Covenant  was  still  ever  treated  as 
"  lex ",  and  the  hopeless  question  was  accordingly 
discussed,  whether  Christ  has  lightened  or  weighted 
the  old  law?  The  pedagogical  salvation-history,  Pedagogi- 
as  it  was  first  put  forth  by  Irenseus  and  intertwined  tI0tory.ls" 
with  the  testimony  of  prophecy,  made  a  tremendous 
impression  (ab  initio — Moses-Christ) ;  the  Tertul- 
lian  addition  (4th  stage :  paracletus  as  novus  legis- 
lator) did  not  gain  acceptance,  yet  it  has  ever  re- 
appeared in  the  history  of  the  Church,  since  even 
Christ  and  Paul  cannot  be  included  in  the  scheme 
of  new  law-givers  for  the  Church  life. 

3.  The  value  of  the  work  of  the  old  Catholic  ^aiueof 
fathers  to  the  Church— in  the  Occident  Novatian  01]iicCFta^°" 
worked  out  the  Tertullian  Christology,  Cyprian  es- 
tablished the  requla  as  developed  into  a  salvation- 
history  and  made  a  part  of  the  Tertullian  formulas 
current  in  larger  circles — did  not  consist  in  their 
construction  of  a  system  of  dogmatics,  but  in  their 
refutation  of  the  gnosis  and  in  the  theological  frag- 
ments which  they  left,  i.e.  in  the  anti-gnostically 
interpreted  "rule  of  faith  ",  which  was  coupled  with 
the  chief  statements  of  the  apologetic  theology  (vide 


148       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

above  all  Cyprian's  writing,  "  testimonies " ;  here 
the  doctrine  concerning  the  two  Testaments,  as  Ire- 
nseus  had  developed  it,  forms  the  ground-plan  in 
which  the  particular  articles  are  introduced.  Doc- 
trinal passages  from  the  rational  theology  change 
with  the  kerygmatic  facts ;  everything,  however,  is 
proven  from  the  two  Testaments;  faith  and  theol- 
ogy are  not  at  a  tension).  In  order  to  become  a  Cath- 
olic Christian  one  was  obliged  above  all  to  believe  the 
following  articles,  which  stand  in  sharp  contrast  to 
AFaithSo?f  the  opposing  doctrine:  (1)  the  unity  of  God,  (2)  the 
christians,  identity  of  the  highest  God  and  the  Creator  of  the 
world,  i.  e.  the  identity  of  the  Mediator  of  creation  and 
of  redemption,  (3)  the  identity  of  the  highest  God  and 
the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  acceptance  of 
the  Old  Testament  as  God's  old  book  of  revelation, 
(4)  the  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothing,  (5)  the 
unity  of  the  human  race,  (6)  the  origin  of  evil  from 
man's  freedom  and  the  inalienable  character  of  that 
freedom,  (7)  the  two  Testaments,  (8)  Christ  as  God 
and  man,  the  unity  of  his  personality,  the  essential 
character  of  his  Divinity,  the  reality  of  his  human- 
ity, the  verity  of  his  fate,  (9)  the  redemption  and 
covenant  through  Christ  as  the  new,  final  manifesta- 
tion of  God's  grace  to  all  men,  (10)  the  resurrection 
of  the  entire  man.  In  closest  connection  with  these 
doctrines  stands  the  Logos-doctrine,  yes  the  latter 
formed  measurably  the  foundation  of  their  contents 
and  just  claims.  How  it  was  carried  out  will  be 
indicated  in  Chapter  VII.     On  the  carrying  out  of 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  149 

this,  however,  hung  also  the  decision  of  the  weight- 
iest questions,  whether  the  Christian  faith  as  in 
former  times  should  rest  upon  the  hope  of  the  return 
of  Christ  and  upon  his  glorious  kingdom,  or  in  the 
faith  in  the  God-man,  who  has  brought  full  knowl- 
edge and  transformed  the  nature  of  man  into  the 
Divine  nature. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TRANSFORMATION  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  TRADI- 
TION INTO  A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RELIGION,  OR  THE 
ORIGIN  OF  SCIENTIFIC  ECCLESIASTICAL  THEOL- 
OGY AND   DOGMATICS:    CLEMENT  AND   ORIGEN. 

Guericke,  de  schola  quae  Alex,  floruit  catechetica,  1824. 
Bigg,  The  Christian  Platonists  of  Alex.,  188G.  Winter, 
Ethik  des  Clemens,  1882.  Redepenning,  Origenes,  1841,  f. 
Denis,  Philosophie  d'Origene,  1884. 

1.  The  gnostics  sharply  distinguished  pistis  and  ^.^"^ 
gnosis ;  Irenseus  and  Tertullian  made  use  of  science 
and  speculation  only  from  necessity  and  in  order  to 
refute  them,  reckoning  that  to  faith  itself  which  they 
needed  for  theological  exposition.  In  the  main  they 
were  satisfied  with  the  authority,  hope  and  holy  ordi- 
nances of  life ;  they  were  building  upon  a  building, 
which  they  themselves  did  not  care  for.  But  after 
the  end  of  the  2d  century  there  began  to  be  in  the 
Church  a  movement  toward  a  scientific  religion  and 
toward  a  theological  science  (schools  in  Asia  Minor,     schools, 

Alexan- 

Cappadocia,  Edessa,  Aelia,  Caesarea,  Home;  alogoi,       d«a. 


150       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Pantsenus. 


Alexander  of  Cappadocia,  Julius  Africanus,  Theok- 
tist,  Theodocian  schools).  It  was  the  strongest  in 
the  City  of  Science,  Alexandria,  where  Christianity 
became  the  heir  of  Philo  and  where  evidently,  until 
toward  the  year  200,  there  had  not  been  a  firm  organ- 
ization of  Christians  upon  exclusive  principles.  The 
Alexandrian  church  comes  into  the  light  of  history 
together  with  the  Alexandrian  Christian  school  (c. 
190) ;  in  the  latter  the  entire  Hellenic  science  was 
taught  and  adapted  to  the  service  of  the  Gospel  and 
clement  a  the  Church.     Clement,  the  pupil  of  Pantsenus,  pro- 

Pupil  of  >          .  r    i  >  v 

duced  in  his  Stromata  the  first  Christian  ecclesiasti- 
cal work,  in  which  the  Greek  philosophy  of  religion 
served  not  only  an  apologetic  and  polemic  purpose, 
but  was  the  means  of  first  restricting  Christi- 
anity to  thinking  men  (as  by  Philo  and  Valen- 
tinus).  Ecclesiastical  literature  was  in  itself  un- 
familiar to  Clement ;  he  acknowledged  its  authority, 
because  the  Holy  Scriptures  appeared  to  him  as  a 
revelation;  but  it  was  his  conscious  purpose  to 
work  their  content  out  philosophically  and  to  make 
them  his  own.  The  pistis  is  given;  it  is  to  be 
recoined  into  gnosis,  i.e.  a  doctrine  is  to  be  de- 
veloped which  will  satisfy  scientific  demands  by  a 
philosophical  view  of  the  world  and  of  ethics. 
Gnosis  does  not  conflict  with  faith,  bat  on  the  con- 
trary it  supports  and  enlightens  it,  not  only  in  cer- 
tain points,  but  it  lifts  it  up  into  a  higher  sphere  out 
of  the  domain  of  authority,  into  the  sphere  of  pure 
knowledge    and    inner    spiritual    harmony  flowing 


Pistis  is 
Given. 


THE  LAYING   OF  THE   FOUNDATION.  151 

from  the  love  of  God.  Pistis  and  gnosis,  however,  Gnosis? 
are  bound  together  in  this,  that  both  have  their  con-  BgeSferr°" 
tent  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  (yet  in  practice  Clement  is 
not  an  exact  Scripture-theologian  like  Origen) .  Into 
these  Scriptures  the  highest  aim  and  the  entire  appa- 
ratus of  the  idealistic  Greek  philosophy  is  read ;  they 
are  at  the  same  time  referred  to  Christ  and  ecclesi- 
astical Christianity — so  far  as  there  was  such  in  Alex- 
andria at  that  time.  The  apologetic  purpose,  which 
Justin  had  had,  is  here  transformed  into  a  systemati- 
co-theologic.  The  positive  material  is  accordingly 
not  shoved  into  the  proof  of  prophecy,  but,  as  by 
Philo  and  Valentinus,  is  carried  over  with  infinite 
pains  to  scientific  dogmatics. 

To  the  idea  of  the  Logos  who  is  Christ,  Clement,     TTdea  of 

°  '        Logos. 

in  that  he  exalted  it  to  the  highest  principle  of  the 
religious  view  of  the  world  and  of  the  exposition  of 
Christianity,  gave  a  far  richer  content  than  did  Jus- 
tin. Christianity  is  the  doctrine  of  the  creation, 
education  and  perfecting  of  the  human  race  through 
the  Logos,  whose  work  reaches  its  climax  in  the  per- 
fect gnostic,  and  who  has  made  use  of  two  means, 
the  Old  Testament  and  Hellenic  philosophy.  Logos 
is  everywhere,  wherever  men  rise  above  the  plane 
of  nature  (the  Logos  is  the  moral  and  rational  prin- 
ciple in  all  stages  of  the  development) ;  but  the 
authentic  knowledge  of  him  can  be  won  only  from 
revelation.  He  is  the  law  of  the  w^orld,  the  teacher,  ^JJh^' 
or  in  Christ  the  hierourge,  who  through  holy  ordina- 
tions conducts  to  knowledge ;  finally,  for  the  perfect, 


152        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  bridge  to  union  with  God  himself.  Aside  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures  the  Greek  combination  of  knowl- 
edge and  ceremonial  ordination  made  it  possible  for 
Clement  to  let  ecclesiastical  Christianity  pass  cur- 
rent. The  ecclesiastical  gnostic  rises,  so  to  speak, 
by  means  of  an  attached  balloon  to  the  Divine  realms ; 
he  leaves  behind  him  everything  earthly,  historical, 
statutory  and  authoritative,  yes,  finally,  the  Logos 
himself,  while  he  struggles  upward  in  love  and 
knowledge;  but  the  rope  remains  fast  beneath,  while 
the  pure  gnostic  on  the  contrary  severed  it.  This 
exaltation  is  accomplished  in  gradual  stages  (Philo), 
under  which  scheme  the  whole  philosophical  ethics 
is  set  forth,  from  reasonable  moderation  to  the  excess 
of  consciousness  and  of  apathetic  love.  Ecclesiasti- 
cal tradition  is  also  set  forth ;  but  here  as  yonder  the 
true  gnostic  should  upon  the  higher  stage  overcome 
the  lower.  When  the  spirit's  wings  are  grown  he 
needs  no  crutches.  Although  Clement  succeeded 
very  poorly  in  arranging  the  unwieldy  material 
under  his  proposed  scheme — he  stuck  fast  in  the  midst 
of  his  undertaking — yet  his  purpose  is  perfectly  plain. 
While  Irensens  wholly  naively  blended  discordant 
material  and  therefore  won  no  religious  freedom, 
AttaSd  Clement  advanced  to  freedom.  He  was  the  first  to 
give  attention  to  the  problem  of  future  theology: 
In  connection  with  the  historical  deposits,  through 
which  we  are  what  we  are,  and  in  connection  with 
the  Christian  communion,  upon  which  we  are 
thrown  because  it  is  the  only  universal  moral-relig- 


Problem. 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  153 

ious  communion,  to  win  for  ourselves  freedom  and 
independence  with  the  Gospel  and  to  so  set  forth 
this  Gospel  that  it  shall  appear  the  highest  message  of 
the  Logos,  who  makes  himself  known  in  all  rising 
above  nature,  and  therefore  in  the  whole  history  of 
mankind.  Truly  the  danger  was  for  Clement  at 
hand,  that  the  ideal  of  the  self-sufficient  Hellenic 
seer  should  stifle  the  voice  that  declares  that  we  live 
in  Christ  by  the  grace  of  God;  but  the  danger  of 
secularization  was  in  the  trammelled  exposition  of 
Irenseus,  which  placed  value  upon  authorities  that 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Gospel,  and  alleged  facts 
pertaining  to  salvation  that  oppress  us,  in  another 
way,  indeed,  but  none  the  less.  If  the  Gospel  is  to 
give  freedom  and  peace  in  God  and  prepare  us  for  an 
eternal  life  in  union  with  Christ,  then  Clement  un- 
derstood it  in  that  sense.  His  was  virtually  an  at-  Attempted 
tempt  to  fuse  the  aim  of  the  Gospel  to  make  us  rich  Gospel  and 

Platonic 

in  God  and  to  gain  from  him  power  and  life,  with  %jios" 
the  ideal  of  the  Platonic  philosophy  to  raise  oneself 
as  a  free  spirit  above  the  world  unto  God,  and  then  to 
bind  together  the  instructions  pertaining  to  a  blessed 
life  which  are  found  in  the  one  and  in  the  other.  But 
Origen  was  the  first  to  succeed  in  putting  this  into  a 
systematic  form,  in  which  the  most  scrupulous  Bibli- 
cism  and  the  most  conscientious  regard  for  the  rule 
of  faith  are  conjoined  with  the  philosophy  of  religion. 

2.  Origen  was  the  most  influential  theologian  in     Origen. 
the  Oriental  church,  the  father  of  theological  science, 
the  author  of  ecclesiastical  dogmatics.     What  the 


154       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

apologists,  gnostics  and  old  Catholic  theologians 
had  taught,  he  brought  together  and  combined ;  he 
recognized  the  problem  and  the  problems,  the  histori- 
cal and  the  speculative.  He  sharply  distinguished, 
with  the  clearest  vision,  between  ecclesiastical  faith 
and  ecclesiastical  theology,  and  spoke  one  thing  to 
the  people  and  another  to  the  discerning.     His  uni- 

coSera    versal  spirit  did  not  wish  to  destroy  anything,  but 

ah  Truth.  every where  to  conserve ;  he  found  on  every  hand  that 
which  is  valuable  and  he  knew  how  to  give  to  every 
truth  its  place,  be  this  in  the  pistis,  or  in  the  gnosis ; 
no  one  should  be  "offended",  but  Christian  truth 
should  triumph  over  the  systems  of  the  Hellenic  phi- 
losophers and  the  old  Catholic  gnostics,  over  the 
superstition  of  the  heathen  and  Jews  and  over  the 
defective  presentation  of  Christian  unitarians.  This 
Christian  truth  bore  as  gnosis  Neo-Platonic  marks, 
and  indeed  to  such  a  high  degree  that  a  Porphyry 
commended  the  theology  of  Origen,  and  rejected  only 

pSS^Ruie  the  intermingled  "strange  fables".  Origen  presup- 
poses  the  rule  of  faith  in  a  firmly  outlined  form  (see 
his  principal  work,  nepi  äpyor;),  together  with  the 
two  Testaments:  He  who  has  these  has  the  truth 
which  makes  blessed,  yet  there  is  a  deeper,  more 
gratifying  conception.  Upon  its  summit  all  con- 
trasts become  mere  shades,  and  in  the  absolute  har- 

orthodox-   mony  which  such  a  view  skives,  one  learns  to  estimate 

Tradition-  ö  ' 

lfcLf'Thio"-  *^e  rela^ve-     Thus  is  Origen  an  orthodox  tradition- 
ideaiistic    alist,  a  strong  Biblical  theologian   (nothing  should 

Philoso-  . 

pner.       pass  current  which  is  not  m  the  Scriptures) ,  a  keen 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION. 


155 


idealistic  philosopher  who  translated  the  content  of 
faith  into  ideas,  completed  the  structure  of  the  world 
that  is  within,  and  finally  let  nothing  pass  save 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  self  in  closest  union,  which 
exalts  us  above  the  world  and  conducts  unto  deifica- 
tion. Zeno  and  Plato,  however,  should  not  be  the 
leaders,  but  Christ ;  for  the  former  did  not  overcome 
polytheism,  nor  make  the  truth  generally  accessible, 
nor  give  a  S3rstem  of  instruction  which  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  unlearned  to  become  any  better  than 
their  natural  ability  permits.  That  Christianity  is 
for  both  classes, — religion  for  the  common  man  with- 
out polytheism  (of  course  with  pictures  and  signs) 
and  religion  for  the  thinking  mind, — Origen  recog- 
nized as  its  superiority  over  all  other  religions  and 
systems.  The  Christian  religion  is  the  only  relig- 
ion which  is  also  truth  in  mythical  form.  Theol- 
ogy it  is  true  is  obliged — as  always,  so  also  here — to 
emancipate  itself  from  the  positive  traits  (character- 
istic of  the  positive  religion)  belonging  to  external 
revelation  and  statutes;  but  in  Christianity  this  is 
accomplished  under  the  guidance  of  Holy  Scrij3ture 
which  establishes  the  positive  religion  for  the  masses. 
The  gnosis  neutralizes  everything  empirically  histor- 
ical, if  not  indeed  always  in  matters  of  fact,  yet 
wholly  so  as  regards  its  worth.  It  sublimates  first 
from  the  empirical  history  a  higher  transcendental 
history,  which  begins  in  eternity  and  rests  behind 
the  empirical ;  but  in  reality  it  sublimates  this  trans- 
cendental once  again,  and  there  remains  now  only 


Christian- 
ity for 
Both 
Classes. 


Christian 
Religion 
Truth  in 
Mythical 
Form. 


Gnosis 
-Neutral- 
izes Em- 
pirical. 


156        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  unchangeable  God  and  the  created  soul.     This  is 
Christoi-     most  clearly  brought  out  in   Origen's  Christology. 

ogy. 

Back  of  the  historical  Christ  reposes  the  eternal 
Logos;  he  who  appeared  first  as  physician  and  re- 
deemer, appears  on  a  deeper  view  as  the  teacher — 
blessed  are  the  advanced  ones,  who  need  no  more  the 
physician,  the  shepherd  and  the  redeemer ! — but  the 
teacher  is  finally  no  longer  necessary  to  those  who  are 
become  perfect ;  such  rest  in  God.  Thus  is  ecclesi- 
astical Christianity  here  stripped  off  as  a  husk  and 
thrown  aside  like  a  crutch.  That  which  in  Justin  is 
proof  of  prophecy,  in  Irenseus  salvation-history,  van- 
ishes in  Origen  for  the  gnostic,  or  is  only  a  picture 
of  a  spiritual  history.  In  the  final  analysis  there 
fails  in  his  high-flying,  all-comprehensive  ethics  the 
sense  of  guilt  and  fear  of  the  Judge. 
MonStfc,        The  system  was  intended  to  be  strongly  monistic 

■y  fvf"    Vi  o  q 

Duaiistic     (that  which  was  created  out  of  nothing  has  only  a 

Element. 

transitory  significance  as  a  place  of  purification) ;  yet 
in  fact  there  dwelt  within  it  a  duaiistic  element. 
The  dominating  antithesis  is  God  and  created  things. 
The  amphiboly  lay  in  his  double  view  of  the  spiritual 
(it  belongs  on  the  one  side,  as  the  outgoing  of  God's 
nature,  to  God  himself,  on  the  other  side,  as  that 
which  has  been  created,  it  stands  in  opposition  to 
God) ,  which  keeps  cropping  out  in  all  Neo-Platonic 
systems.  Pantheism  was  to  be  warded  off,  and  yet  the 
supermundane  character  of  the  human  spirit  was  to 
be  stoutly  maintained.  This  spirit  is  the  free,  heav- 
enly eon,  conscious  of  the  right  way,  but  uncertain 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION. 


157 


in  its  striving.  Divine  origin,  divine  end,  and  free 
choice  constitute  its  essence.  The  knot  is  tied  how- 
ever, in  that  moment  when  the  spirit  comes  forth  in 
manifestation.  There  is  therefore  a  history  prior  to 
temporal  history.  The  system  is  divided  into  three 
parts:  (1)  God  and  his  outgoing,  (2)  the  fall  of  the 
created  spirit  and  the  consequences,  (3)  redemption 
and  restoration.  That  freedom  will  only  be  a  sem- 
blance, if  the  spirit  must  finally  attain  unto  its  end, 
Origen  did  not  observe.  In  carrying  out  his  scheme 
he  was  so  earnest  that  he  even  limited  the  Divine 
omnipotence  and  omniscience.  Out  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  the  God-world  drama  is  educed  (secret  tra- 
dition which  still  played  a  great  role  in  Clement  en- 
tirely recedes) .  As  the  cosmos  is  spiritual,  psychic 
and  material,  so  also  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  second 
revelation,  consist  of  these  three  parts.  Thereby 
was  a  secure  method  given  for  exegesis;  it  has,  (1)  to 
discover  the  verbal  sense,  which,  however,  is  the 
shell,  (2)  the  psychic-moral  sense,  (3)  the  pneumatic. 
Here  and  there  this  pneumatic  is  alone  taken  into 
consideration  and  the  verbal  sense  must  even  be  cast 
aside,  whereby  only  one  is  permitted  to  discover  the 
deeper  sense.  This  Biblical  alchemy  Origen  devel- 
oped with  the  greatest  virtuosity.  - 

(a)  God  is  the  One,  who  stands  over  against  the  God  is  one 
many  that  point  back  to  him  as  the  Cause ;  he  is  the    t4*Mj£Jy. 
absolute  Existence  and  spiritual  Being,  who  stands 
over  against  conditioned  existences.     He  is  different 
from  the  many,  yet  the  order,  the  dependence  and 


Origen's 
Exegesis.. 


158        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  longing  of  the  many  tell  of  him.  God  as  the 
absolute  Cause,  with  self-consciousness  and  will, 
is  set  forth  as  more  living  and,  so  to  speak,  as  more 
personal  by  Origen  than  by  the  gnostics  and  the 
Neo-Platonists.  But  God  is  ever  causality,  and 
therefore  never  to  be  thought  of  apart  from  revela- 
tion. That  he  creates  belongs  to  his  being,  which  is 
revealed  indeed  even  in  the  many.  Since  however 
all  revelation  must  be  partial,  Origen  permits  no 
limitless  conceptions  to  be  applied  to  the  Omniscience 
and  Omnipotence;  God  can  only  what  he  will;  he 
God  Not     cannot  do  that  which  is  in  itself  contradictory  and 

Absolutely  . 

omnis-      is  not  able  to  become  existent  (all  miracles  are  natu- 

cient  and    ■ 

0ltenf  °"  ra0  '■>  ne  cannot  indeed  make  the  created  absolutely 
good,  since  the  conception  of  the  created  includes  a 
privatio  of  being ;  he  can  make  the  same  only  poten- 
tially good ;  for  the  idea  never  goes  forth  without  re- 
serve into  the  substance  which  gives  it  form.  Free- 
dom also  places  limitations  upon  God,  which  he,  it  is 
true,  imposed  upon  himself.  Thus  are  relative  ideas 
applied  to  the  idea  of  God.  God  is  love  and  goodness ; 
righteousness  is  a  manifestation  of  his  goodness. 

Since  God  is  eternally  revealed,  the  world  is  eter- 
nal, but  not  this  world,  yet  the  world  of  spirits. 
With  this  world,  however,  God  is  united  through 
the  Logos,  into  whom,  laying  aside  his  absolute 
apathy,    God  once  again   entered.     The    Logos    is 

Logos  is     God  himself  and  at  the  same  time  the  totality  and 

God. 

the  creator  of  the  many  (Philo),  a  special  hypostasis, 
like   indeed  the  self-consciousness  of  God  and  the 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  159 

potency  of  the  world.  The  Logos  is  the  perfect  like- 
ness of  God  (6ßoou(Tto$) .  He  has  nothing  corporeal 
about  him  and  is  therefore  true  God,  yet  a  second 
God  (no  sharing  of  Divinity,  ob  xa-a  ßerouciav,  dXXd 
xfl.x  od&iav  #£09).  He  is  begotten  of  the  essence  of  the  ^{te?6" 
Father  from  eternity ;  there  was  no  time  when  he 
was  not,  and  he  ever  goes  forth  from  the  Father's 
being  through  the  Divine  constraining  will.  But 
even  because  he  is  substantia  substantialiter  sub- 
siste?is,  he  is  as  such  no  dyivv^rov-  he  is  an  ahtazöv^ 
the  Father  is  np(ozov  ainov.  Accordingly  he  is  the 
first  stage  in  the  transition  from  the  One  to  the  ^r0mSonee 
many ;  from  the  standpoint  of  God  the  xrlafxa  ößooo-  Many! 
ffwvj  from  our  standpoint  the  manifest,  essential  God. 
For  us  alone  therefore  does  the  essential  likeness  of 
the  Father  and  Son  exist;  his  unchangeableness  is 
therefore  only  relative,  since  it  does  not  reside  in  the 
autousie.  Everywhere  in  this  speculation  in  regard 
to  the  Logos-Creator,  there  is  no  thought  of  the 
Logos- Redeemer.  The  Holy  Spirit  also — the  rule  of  H^y 
faith  necessitated  him — is  included  in  the  Godhead 
as  a  third  unchangeable  being  and  reckoned  as  a 
third  stage  and  hypostasis.  He  is  become  through 
the  Son  and  is  related  to  him  as  the  Son  to  the 
Father.  His  sphere  of  activity  is  the  smallest — 
strangely  enough,  indeed,  the  most  important.  The 
Father  is  the  principle  of  existence,  the  Son  of 
reason,  the  Spirit  of  that  which  is  holy.  This  grad- 
uated trinity  is  a  trinity  of  revelation,  but  even  on 
that  account  also  imminent  and  persistent,  since  God 


160        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Created 
Spirits. 


Freedom. 


Fall, 

World  Cre- 
ated to 
Redeem 
Them. 


can  never  be  thought  of  apart  from  revelation.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  the  transition  to  the  fulness  of  spirits 
and  ideas,  which,  created  through  the  Son,  are  in 
truth  the  unfolding  of  his  own  fulness.  The  charac- 
teristic of  created  spirits  is  the  becoming  (advance, 
npoxomj),  i.e.  freedom  (opposition  to  the  heretical 
gnosis) .  But  the  freedom  is  still  relative,  i.  e.  in  a 
broad  sense  they  are  free;  fundamentally  however 
there  exists  the  rigid  necessity  for  the  created  spirit 
to  reach  the  goal.  Freedom  therefore  is  sub  specie 
aetemitatis  necessary  evolution.  Out  of  freedom 
Origen  sought  to  understand  the  actual  world ;  for  to 
the  spirits  belong  also  human  spirits ;  they  were  all 
created  from  eternity  (God  is  ever  a  Creator),  orig- 
inally alike  in  substance ;  but  their  duties  are  differ- 
ent and  therefore  their  development.  In  so  far  as 
they  are  changeable  spirits  they  are  all  endowed  with 
a  kind  of  corporeality.  In  the  fact  itself  of  being- 
created  there  is  ordained  for  angels  and  men  a  kind 
of  materiality.  As  to  how  they  might  have  devel- 
oped themselves  Origen  did  not  speculate,  but  only 
as  to  how  they  have  developed. 

(b)  They  should  all  attain  unto  a  persistent  exist- 
ence, in  order  to  make  room  then  for  new  creations. 
But  they  fall  into  idleness  and  disobedience  (pre- 
existent  fall  into  sin) .  To  curb  and  purify  them  the 
visible  world  was  created;  this  is  also  a  house  of 
correction  and  the  spirits  are,  through  the  bondage 
of  the  soul,  shut  up  in  divers  bodies,  the  grossest  of 
which  have  devils,   the  finest  angels,   the  medium 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  161 

men,  who  are  supported  and  endangered  by  devils 
and  angels  (acceptance  of  popular  representations). 
Life  is  a  discipline,  a  conflict  under  the  permission 
and  leading  of  God,  which  will  end  with  the  con- 
quest and  destruction  of  evil.  Thus  harshly,  almost 
Buddhistically,  did  Origen  think  of  the  world — he  is 
however  fundamentally  an  optimist.     Man  consists    Man  con- 

olöLIS  Ol. 

of  spirit,  soul  and  body  (after  Plato  and  because  the  soiKnd 
spirit  cannot  be  the  principle  of  action  antagonistic 
to  God.  The  soul  is  treated  just  as  inconsistently  as 
the  Logos :  It  is  a  spirit  grown  cold  and  yet  no  spirit. 
It  was  thus  conceived  in  order  to  make  the  fall  conceiv- 
able, and  yet  to  guard  the  integrity  of  the  reasonable 
soul) .  Man's  conflict  consists  in  the  striving  of  those 
powers  inherent  in  his  constitution  to  gain  dominion 
over  his  environment.  Sin  inheres  on  the  one  side 
in  the  earthly  state  (in  reality  all  must  be  sinners) ; 
on  the  other,  it  is  the  product  of  freedom,  but  is  even 
therefore  conquerable  when  God  assists.  For  with- 
out him  nothing  is  good. 

(c)  But  we   must  help  ourselves;    God  helps  as  God  Helps 
teacher,    first    through    the    laws    of    nature,    then    N^ure0of 
through  the  laws  of  Moses,  then  through  the  Gospel     <£pei. 
(to  each  according  to  his  kind  and  according  to  the 
measure  of  his  receptivity) ;    the  perfect  he  helps 
through  the  eternal  Gospel,  which  has  no  outer  shell 
and  no  representation.     Revelation  is  a  manifold, 
gradual  rendering  of  help,  which  comes  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  growing  creature  (the  significance  of  the 

people  Israel  is  recognized) .  But  the  Logos  must  him  - 
11 


162        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

self  appear  and  help.  His  work  must  be  as  compli- 
cated as  the  need  is :  He  must  exhibit  to  the  one  class 
the  true  victory  over  death  and  the  demons,  must,  as 
the  God-man,  bring  an  offering  which  represents  the 
expiation  of  sin,  must  pay  the  price  of  redemption 
which  shall  end  the  dominion  of  the  devil — in  short 
he  must  bring  a  comprehensible  redemption  in 
''deeds".  (Ori gen  first  introduced  into  the  Gentile 
Church  a  theory  of  reconciliation  and  atonement; 
but  one  should  consider  in  what  age  he  wrote.)  To 
others,  however,  he  must,  as  Divine  teacher  and 
Hierourge,  disclose  the  depths  of  knowledge  and  bring 
to  them  a  new  principle  of  life,  so  that  they  may 
share  his  life  and,  interwoven  with  the  Divine  Being 
himself,  may  become  divine.  Return  to  communion 
with  God  is  here,  as  yonder,  the  goal;  yonder 
through  facts  toward  which  man  directs  his  faith; 
here  through  knowledge  and  love,  which,  striving  up 
beyond  the  Crucified,  lays  hold  upon  eternal  life  as  the 
Logos  himself  encompasses  it.  The  "  facts"  are  also, 
as  with  the  gnostics,  not  simulation  or  an  indifferent 
basis  of  truth,  but  are  truth,  though  not  the  truth. 
Thus  he  reconciled  faith  and  the  philosophy  of  relig- 
ion. He  can  commend  the  cosmic  significance  of 
the  death  on  the  cross,  a  work  which  encompasses 
all  spirits,  and  yet  rise  above  this  occurrence  by  spec- 
ulations which  have  no  history. 
Chris-  In  accordance  therewith  his  Christolosry  takes  its 

toloey  .  &J 

Complex.    form.   its  characteristic  is  its  complexity:  The  Re- 
deemer was  all  that  Christians  can  think  him  to  have 


THE   LAYING    OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  163 

been.  For  the  gnostic  he  is  the  divine  Principle, 
the  Teacher,  the  First-Born,  the  knowable,  Divine 
Reason.  The  gnostic  knows  no  "  Christolog}^"  :  From 
Christ  on  began  the  perfect  indwelling  of  the  Logos 
in  mankind.  Here,  therefore,  neither  the  Divinity 
nor  the  humanity  of  Christ  is  a  question  or  a  prob- 
lem. But  for  the  imperfect  Christian  Christ  is  the 
God-man,  and  the  gnostic  is  in  duty  bound  to  solve 
the  problem  which  this  expression  offers  and  to 
guard  the  solution  from  errors  on  the  right  and  on 
the  left  (against  docetism  and  ebionitism).  The 
Logos  could  unite  itself  with  the  body  only  through 
the  medium  of  a  human  soul.  This  soul  was  a  pure 
Unfällen  spirit,  which  had  destined  itself  for  the  soul 
in  order  to  serve  the  purposes  of  redemption.  It  was 
a  pure  spirit  fundamentally  united  with  the  Logos 
and  became  then,  by  reason  of  its  moral  worthiness, 
a  medium  for  the  incarnation  of  the  Logos  (closest 
inner  union,  but  really  perfect  only  through  incessant 
exercise  of  will  from  both  sides ;  therefore  no  ming- 
ling) .     The  Logos  remains  unchangeable ;  only  the 

Docetic 

soul  hungers  and  suffers,  inasmuch  as  it,  like  the  Element, 
body,  is  truly  human.  But  because  both  are  pure 
and  their  substance  is  in  itself  without  qualities,  his 
body  was  still  actually  totally  different  from  ours 
(Clement  is  still  more  docetic).  The  body  could  at 
any  moment  assume  such  a  character  as  the  situa- 
tion required,  in  order  to  make  the  strongest  impres- 
sion upon  different  persons.  The  Logos  was  also  not 
shut  up  within  the  body,  but  wrought  everywhere  as 


1G4        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

hitherto  and  united  itself  with  all  pious  souls.  It 
is  true  the  union  was  with  none  so  close  as  with  the 
soul  of  Jesus,  and  the  same  was  true  as  regards  his 
body.  The  Logos  illumined  and  deified  the  soul 
gradually  during  the  earthly  life,  and  the  soul  the 
body.  The  functions  and  the  attributes  of  the  in- 
carnate Logos  form  a  gradation,  in  the  knowledge 
of  which  believers  progress.  The  union  became  so 
close  (xotvwvta,  ivwffis,  ävdxpatjis)  that  the  attributes 
are  interchanged  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Finally 
Jesus  appears  transformed  into  Spirit,  received  into 
.j usus  and   the  Godhead,   the  same  with  the  Logos.     But  the 

Logos 

Ethically  union  is  fundamentally  ethical  and  finally  not  unique. 
All  conceivable  heresies  are  here  touched  upon,  but 
guarded  by  cautions  (Jesus  the  heavenly  man — yet 
all  men  are  heavenly;  the  adoption  Christology — 
but  the  Logos  behind  it ;  the  conception  of  two  Logoi ; 
the  gnostic  severing  of  Jesus  and  the  Christ;  mo- 
nophysite  commingling;  docetism),  save  only  modal  - 
ism.  That  in  a  scientific  Christology  so  much  room 
was  left  for  the  humanity  is  the  important  thing; 
the  idea  of  the  incarnation  is  accepted. 

Freedom^  The  redemptive  adaptations  are  in  all  this  already 
indicated:  Freedom  and  faith  are  in  the  van.  As  in 
Christ  the  human  soul  gradually  united  itself  with 
the  Logos,  so  man  receives  grace  gradually,  in  keep- 
ing with  his  progress  (Neo-Platonic  progressive 
stages  of  knowledge  from  simple  science  and  sensu- 
ous things  onward;  yet  ecstasy  and  visions  recede; 
there  is  little  that  is  shadowy) .     Everywhere  a  blend- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE    FOUNDATION.  1G5 

ing  of  freedom  and  enlightenment  is  necessary,  and 
the  ecclesiastical  faith  remains  the  starting-point  also 
of  the  "theoretic  life",  until  this  comes  to  jo}Tous  as- 
cetic contemplation,  in  which  the  Logos  is  the  friend 
and  bridegroom  of  the  soul  that  is  now  deified  in  love 
and  rests  in  Divinity.  Regeneration  Origen  recog-  Regenera- 
ized  only  as  a  process ;  but  in  him  and  Clement  are  a  Process. 
found  statements  joined  to  the  New  Testament  (God 
as  Love,  as  the  Father,  regeneration,  adoption)  which, 
free  from  the  shackles  of  the  system,  set  forth  the 
evangelical  announcement  in  a  surprisingly  pertinent 
way.  In  the  highest  sense  there  are  no  "  means  of 
grace",  but  the  symbols  which  accompany  the  be- 
stowal of  grace  are  not  equally  good.  The  system  fiedf™0?sf 
of  numerous  mediators  and  intercessors  (angels, 
martyrs,  living  saints)  Origen  first  brought  actually 
into  operation  and  encouraged  prayers  to  these  (as 
regards  praying  to  Christ  Origen  was  very  reticent). 

According  to  Origen  all  spirits  will,  in  the  form  universal 
of  their  individual  lives,  be  finally  rescued  and  glor- 
ified (apokatastasis),  in  order  to  make  way  for  a  new 
world-epoch.  The  sensuous-eschatological  expecta- 
tions are  in  toto  banished.  The  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  Origen  adopted  (rule  of 
faith),  but  he  conceived  of  it  in  such  a  way  that  a 
corpus  spiritale  will  rise,  in  which  all  sense-facul- 
ties, yes  all  the  members  which  have  sensuous  func- 
tions, will  be  wanting,  and  which  will  shine  brightly 
like  the  angels  and  stars.  The  souls  of  those  who 
have  fallen  asleep  will  go  at  once  to  paradise  (no 


tion. 


Purgatory. 


166       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

sleeping  of  the  soul) ;  the  souls  which  are  not  yet 
purified  will  pass  into  a  new  condition  of  punish- 
ment (purgatory),  which  will  purify  them  still  far- 
ther (the  remorse  of  conscience  is  hell).  Only  so  far, 
however,  did  Origen  accept  the  ecclesiastical  doctrine 
of  damnation ;  at  last  all  spirits,  the  demons  them- 
selves, will  return  to  God  purified.  Yet  is  his  doc- 
trine esoteric :  "  for  the  common  man  it  is  enough  to 
know  that  sin  will  be  punished".  This  system  drove 
from  the  field  the  heretic  gnostic  theology  and  later 
dominated  the  ecclesiastical  theology  of  the  Orient. 
But  the  Church  could  not  for  any  length  of  time  ap- 
prove of  all  the  teaching  of  Origen  or  content  itself 
with  his  sharp  discrimination  between  faith  and  the 
science  of  faith.  It  was  obliged  to  try  to  unite  both 
and  to  put  them  upon  the  same  plane  (like  Irenseus). 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DECISIVE  RESULT  OF  THEOLOGICAL  SPECULATION 
WITHIN  THE  REALM  OF  THE  RULE  OF  FAITH, 
OR  THE  DEFINING  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOC- 
TRINAL NORM  THROUGH  THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF 
THE   LOGOS-CHRISTOLOGY. 

Logos-         The  Logos-Christology  alone  permitted  a  uniting 

toiogy.      0f  faith  and  science,  corresponded  to  the  doctrine  that 

God  became  man  in  order  that  we  might  become  gods, 

and  thus  supported  Christianity  from  without  and 

from  within.     But  it  was  by  no  means  wide-spread 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  167 

in  the  churches  in  the  year  190,  or  even  later;  rather 
was  it  in  part  unknown,  and  in  part  feared  as 
heretic-gnostic  (destruction  of  the  Divine  monarchy, 
that  is,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ) ; 
Tertull.  adv.  Prax.  3 :  "  Simplices  quique,  ne  dixe- 
rem  inprudentes  et  idiotae,  quae  maior  semper 
pars  credentium  est,  quoniam  et  ipsa  regula  fidei 
a  pluribus  diis  saeculi  ad  unicum  et  verum  deum 
transfert,  non  intelligentes  unicum  quidem,  sed 
cum  sua  ohovoßta  esse  credendum,  expavescunt  ad 
oixovo[±ia  .  .  .  Itaque  duos  et  tres  iam  iactitant  a 
nobis  pradicari,  se  vero  unius  dei  cidtores  prae- 
sumunt  .  .  .  monarchiam  inquiunt  tenemus". 
The   establishment  of  the   Logos- Christology  with-      Estab- 

lisliod  bv 

in  the  faith  of  the  Church — and  indeed  as  articu-  about  30°- 
his  fundamentalis — was  accomplished  after  severe 
conflicts  during  the  course  of  a  hundred  years  (till 
about  300).  It  signified  the  transformation  of  the 
faith  into  a  system  of  beliefs  with  an  Hellenic-philo- 
sophical cast ;  it  shoved  the  old  eschatological  repre- 
sentations aside,  and  even  suppressed  them ;  it  put 
back  of  the  Christ  of  history  a  conceivable  Christ,  a 
principle,  and  reduced  the  historical  figure  to  a  mere 
appearance ;  it  referred  the  Christian  to  "  natures  " 
and  naturalistic  magnitudes,  instead  of  to  the  Person 
and  to  the  ethical ;  it  gave  the  faith  of  the  Christians  a 
definite  trend  toward  the  contemplation  of  ideas  and 
doctrinal  formulas,  and  prepared  the  way,  on  the  one 
side  for  the  monastic  life,  on  the  other  for  the  chap- 
eroned Christianity  of  the  imperfect,  active  laity ;  it 


Effect. 


1G8       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

legitimized  a  hundred  questions  in  metaphysics, 
cosmology,  and  natural  science  as  ecclesiastical,  and 
demanded,  under, threat  of  loss  of  bliss,  a  definite 
answer;  it  went  so  far  that  men  preached,  instead  of 
faith,  rather  faith  in  the  faith,  and  it  stunted  religion 
while  it  appeared  to  broaden  it.  But  in  that  it  made 
the  bond  with  natural  science  perfect  it  raised  Chris- 
tianity to  the  world-and-everybody's  religion  and 
prepared  the  way  for  the  act  of  Con stan tine. 

MSSsm"  The  tendencies  in  the  Church,  which  strove  against 
philosophical  Christianity  and  the  Logos-Christology, 
men  called  monarchian  (so  first  Tertullian).  The 
name  was  not  happily  chosen,  since  many  monarch  - 
ians  acknowledged  a  second  hypostasis,  yet  made 
use  of  it  for  everything  except  for  Christology.  Two 
tendencies  can  be  distinguished  among  the  monarch- 
ians  (see  the  old  Christologies,  Book  I.  chap.  3,  sub  G) : 
The  adoption,  which  looked  upon  the  Divine  in 
Christ  as  a  power  and  started  from  the  human  per- 
son of  Jesus  which  was  deified,  and  the  modalistic, 
which  held  Christ  to  be  a  manifestation  of  God  the 
Father.  Both  contested  the  Logos-Christology  as 
"  gnosticism  " ;  the  first  through  an  avowed  interest 
in  the  historical  representation  of  Christ  (Synoptic), 
the  second  in  the  interest  of  monarchy  and  of  the  Di- 

in  vain,  vinity  of  Christ.  Both  tendencies,  passing  into  each 
other,  were  Catholic,  maintaining  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  rule  of  faith  (neither  "ebionitic", 
nor  gnostic) ;  but  after  the  New  Testament  had  es- 
tablished itself  as  such  the  contest  was  in  vain ;  for 


on 

ism 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  169 

although  there  are  passages  in  the  New  Testament 
in  favor  of  these  theses,  the  other  passages  which 
maintain  the  pre-existence  of  Christ  as  a  special 
hypostasis  outweigh  them — at  least  according  to 
the  interpretation  then  current — and  it  seemed  self- 
evident  that  the  "  lower "  in  the  expressions  should 
everywhere  be  interpreted  according  to  the  "  higher  " 
(pneumatic),  (therefore  the  Synoptics  in  accord- 
ance with  John).  In  all  ecclesiastical  provinces 
there  were  monarchian  contests;  but  we  know  them 
only  in  part. 

(1)  The  Rejection  of  Dynamic  Monarchian-  Adopti 
ism,  or  Adoptionism. — (a)  The  alogoi  (nickname;  Rejected 
sources :  Irenaeus,  Hippolytus,  Epiphanius)  in  Asia 
Minor  were  a  party  of  the  radical  anti-Montanis- 
tic  opposition,  which  rejected  all  prophecy  in  the 
Church ;  they  appeared  at  a  time  when  there  was  as 
yet  no  New  Testament.  They  criticised  the  Johan- 
nean  writings  on  historical  grounds  and  rejected  them 
on  account  of  their  proclamation  of  the  Paraclete 
and  the  apocalypse,  at  the  same  time  proving  the  in- 
accuracy of  the  historical  narratives  in  the  Johannean 
Gospel.  But  they  criticised  also  the  docetism  of  the 
Gospel,  hesitated  at  the  Logos,  and  decided  that  the 
untrue  writings,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  contained 
Jewish-naturalistic  elements,  on  the  other,  docetic- 
gnostic,  must  have  originated  with  Cerinthus.    Their     Synoptic 

ö  '  ö  Chris- 

OWn  Christology  was  fashioned  after  the  Synoptics :      tol°gy- 

The  miraculous  birth,  the  descent  of  the  Spirit  upon 

Jesus,  his  development,  the  exaltation  through  his 


170       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

resurrection  constitute  his  dignity.     The  earliest  op- 
ponents   (Irenseus,   Hippolytus)  treated  these  in   a 
measure  respectfully,  since  these  "  alogoi "  did  good 
service  against  the  Montanists.     But  one  must  say, 
notwithstanding  the  high  esteem  which  the  "  alogoi  " 
had  for  sound  historical  criticism,  that  their  relig- 
ious inspiration  could  not  have  been  of  a  very  high 
order;  for  they  were  neither  apocalyptic  enthusiasts, 
nor  mystics :  Wherein   then  consisted  the  power  of 
their  piety? 
Expelled        (b)  The  same  can  be  said  of  the  Roman-adoption 
Rome.       parties  of  the  Theodotians,  who  stood  in  evident 
alliance  with   the  "  alogoi "    (the    cobbler    Theodo- 
tus    and    his    party,    Theodotus    the    banker,    the 
Artemonites).      They   established    themselves  after 
about  185  in  Rome  (the  elder  Theodotus  was  from 
Byzantium,  a  man  of  unusual  culture) ;  but  already 
had  bishop  Victor  of  Rome  expelled  Theodotus  (c. 
195)  from  the  Church,  because  he  held  Christ  to  be 
a  <pdd$  avd-pwizos — the  first  case  where  a  Christian  who 
stood  upon   the   rule  of   faith  is  disciplined  as  an 
unsound    teacher.      Theodotus    taught   as   did    the 
"  alogoi  "  concerning  Christ  (xpoxoTryj  of  the  miracu- 
lously born  man  Jesus,  equipped  by  his  baptism  and 
prepared  for  his  exaltation  through  the  resurrection ; 
stress  upon  the  ethical  proof),  but  recognized  the 
Johannean  Gospel  already  as  Holy  Scripture,  and 
carried  on  his  Scripture  argument  in  the  same  sound 
critical  way  as  did  the  latter  (Deut.  18:  15;  Jer.  17: 
9;  Isa.  53:  2  seq.;  Matt.  12:  31;    Luke  1:  35;  Jno. 


THE   LAYING   OP   THE   FOUNDATION. 


171 


Under  their  most   Theodotus 

the 


8:  40;  Acts  2:  22;  I.  Tim.  2:  5) 
distinguished  pupil  Theodotus,  the  banker,  the 
adoptionists  zealously  cultivated  the  criticism  of 
the  sacred  text,  empirical  science  and  natural 
phenomena  (not  with  Plato),  and  stood  as  a  school 
alongside  the  Church  (see  the  description  in  Eusehius, 
H.  E.  V,  28).  Their  attempt  to  found  a  church 
(bishop  Natalis)  was  soon  frustrated  (at  the  time  of 
bishop  Zephyrinus) ;  they  remained  as  officers  with 
an  ever-dwindling  army.  Out  of  their  thesis,  that 
the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  lrypostasis  (as  eternal  Son  of 
God,  see  Hernias  whose  Christology  they  followed) 
they  acknowledged,  stood  higher  than  Jesus,  since 
the  latter  is  only  an  adopted  God,  their  opponents 
made  a  capital  heresy.  Inasmuch  as  they  ascribed 
the  Old  Testament  theophanies  to  this  eternal  Son 
of  God  and  took  Melchisedec  to  be  a  manifes- 
tation of  the  eternal  Son,  they  were  called  Melchis- 
edecs,  because  they  prayed  to  him.  Of  the  learned 
labors  of  these  men  nothing  remains  to  us.  Hippo- 
lytus  informs  us  that  some  of  them  would  not  concede 
that  Christ  is  a  God,  even  after  his  resurrection; 
others  acknowledged  the  ■&eo-oirl<7^.  It  became  clear  in 
the  contest  that  an  alliance  with  the  science  of  Aris- 
totle, Euclid,  and  Galen,  was  not  compatible  with  the 
Church,  but  on  the  contrary  that  it  demands  an  alli- 
ance with  Plato,  and  that  the  old  Christology  of 
Hermas — the  adoptionists  appealed  to  such  docu- 
ments— was  no  longer  satisfactory.  Some  decades 
later  there  appeared  in  Rome  in  the  person  of  Arte- 


Banker. 


Logos- 

C'hris- 

tology 

Platonic. 


172        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

mon  a  still  more  important  adoptionist  teacher,  of 
whom,  however,  little  is  known.  He  also  put  aside 
the  predicate  "  God  "  as  applied  to  Christ,  but  seems 
not  to  have  agreed  rigidly  in  all  particulars  with  the 
Adoptfon-    Theodotians.     About  the  year  250  acloptionism  was 

ism  Van- 

ishes  from  insignificant  in  Rome  (Cyprian  is  silent;  yet  see 
Novatian,  de  trinit. ) ;  but  in  the  Occident  it  contin- 
ued for  a  long  time  in  the  Church  formulas,  as 
"  spiritus  sanctus  dei  films,  caro  Jesus — spiritus 
sanctus  Christus — spiritus  carni  mixtus  Jesus 
Christus "  (through  the  reading  of  the  highly  es- 
teemed Hennas) ;  and  it  is  instructive  that  Augustine 
still  a  short  time  before  his  conversion  thought  the 
adoption  Christology  to  be  the  Catholic.  Therefore 
the  orthodox  Christological  formulas  were  still  little 
known  in  the  fourth  century  in  the  Occidental  laity- 
world. 

A?°mmn"  (c)  From  the" writings  of  Origen  one  gathers  that 
orient.  there  were  adoptionists  also  in  the  Orient.  Origen 
treated  them  as  misguided,  i.e.  as  simple-minded 
Christian  brethren,  who  needed  friendly  instruction; 
did  he  not  himself  make  use  of  the  adoption  view  in 
his  complicated  Christology  (accordingly  he  was  later 
unjustly  classed  with  the  adoptionists;  against  this 

B  BosSa  °f  Pamphilus  defended  him)  ?  Beryllus  of  Bostra,  the 
monarchian  teacher  who  won  a  large  following  in 
Arabia  and  Syria,  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  Logos-Christology  through  Origen  (Euseb.  VI., 

33  :   tov    (TiüzTjia    xai    xuptov  rjßwv  fii)  itpovisearävai   xar     Idiav 
obfftas  -Kepiypayr^  xpu  r^s  e&  av$pd>Ttou<$  t-cdrj/jLtag^  fiydk    p.kv 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION.      173 

üeihyra    idiav    £/££>,     clXK    ißTcoXiTeuo/i^rjv    abrai    fiovriv     rr,v 

narptxTjv).  Those  Egyptian  chiliasts,  whom  Diony- 
sius  of  Alexandria  opposed,  and  whose  teaching  nepi 

T7j$  hdogou   xai  aXrjftibs  Iv&ioo  too  xuptou  rjfiaiv  £-i<paveta?  he 

acknowledged  as  necessary,  may  have  favored  dynam- 
ical representations.  But  no  great  adoption  move- 
ment was  undertaken  in  the  Orient,  save  by  Paul  of     Paul  of 

Samosata. 

Samosata,  metropolitan  of  Antioch  (Euseb.  VII, 
27-30;  other  material  in  Routh,  Rel.  Sacr.  III.),  the 
national  Syrian  bishop,  who  opposed  the  Greeks  and 
their  science  as  well  as  the  Romans  and  their  church. 
That  two  great  Oriental  general  councils  at  Antioch 
proved  ineffective  against  him,  and  only  the  third 
condemned  and  deposed  him  (very  probably  268)  is 
an  evidence  of  how  little  even  yet  the  Alexandrian 
dogmatics  had  found  acceptance  in  the  Orient.  Paul 
was  a  learned  theologian  (unspiritual,  vain,  shrewd, 
sophistical ;  a  "  man  of  the  world "  his  opponents 
called  him),  who  wished  to  break  the  power  of  the 
Hellenic  (Platonic)  philosophy  in  the  Church  and  to 
maintain  the  old  teaching.  In  later  times  he  ap- 
pears to  the  Church  as  a  heretic  of  the  first  order,  like 
a  Judas,  ebionite,  Nestorian,  monothelite,  etc.  His 
conception  was  this :  God  is  to  be  thought  of  sim- 
ply as  individually  personal  ($v  npöffwnov).  It  is  true  Dr?tu3s 
that  in  God  a  Logos  (Son),  i.e.  a  Sophia  (Spirit),  can 
be  distinguished — both  are  otherwise  also  to  be  iden- 
tified— but  these  are  attributes.  God  from  eternity 
sent  forth  the  Logos  from  himself,  so  that  one  can 
call  him  Son,  but  he  remains  an  impersonal  power. 


174        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

He  worked  in  Moses  and  the  prophets,  fiaXXov  xa\ 
Siayspövrws  in  the  Son  of  David,  born  of  the  virgin. 
The  Redeemer  is  a  man  from  "beneath",  but  the 
Logos  from  above  worked  within  him  (in-dwelling 
by  means  of  an  inspiration  working  from  without, 
so  that  the  Logos  becomes  the  "  inner  man  "  of  the 
Redeemer).     The  communion  which  thus  arises  is  a 

GOvä<peia  xard  ßd#r)fftv   xdi   ßSTouGioy^  a  Goviteuffts  (no  obaia 

odffiwßivT)  iv  (TCü/xart) ;  the  Logos  did  not  dwell  in  Jesus 
oufftiodd*?,  hut  y-ar d.  TToiorrjTa^  therefore  is  he  always  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  latter  as  the  greater.  The 
Redeemer  is  the  man  wrought  upon  by  the  Logos ; 
but  he  possessed  in  a  unique  way  the  Divine  grace, 
just  as  his  position  is  unique.  His  testimony  bears 
witness  to  his  endowments.  Between  two  persons — 
therefore  also  between  God  and  Christ — unity  of  dis- 
position and  of  will  alone  is  possible.  Such  unity  is 
realized  only  through  love ;  but  also  only  that  which 
comes  from  love  has  value;  that  which  is  gained 
through  "  nature  "  is  indifferent.  Jesus  by  reason  of 
the  unchangeableness  of  his  love  and  will  is  like  God 
and  has  become  one  with  him,  inasmuch  as  he  not 
only  himself  remained  without  sin,  but  through  con- 
flict and  endurance  overcame  the  sins  of  our  progen- 
itors. Like  as  he  however  advanced  and  persisted 
in  the  confirmation  of  the  good,  so  also  did  the 
Father  endow  him  with  might  and  miraculous  deeds, 
by  which  he  made  known  his  unswerving  will  toward 
God.  Thus  he  became  the  Redeemer  and  entered 
into  an  indissoluble  and  eternal  union  with  God,  be- 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  175 

cause  his  love  can  never  fail.  As  a  reward  of  his 
victorious  love  he  has  obtained  a  name  above  every 
name,  judgment  and  Divine  dignity,  so  that  one  may 
call  him  "  the  God  born  of  the  virgin",  which  he  has 
ever  been  in  God's  decree  and  proclamation  (through 
grace  and  confirmation  did  he  attain  unto  Godhood ; 
the  steps  were  here  also  birth,  baptism,  and  resurrec- 
tion). This  evangelical  Christology,  which  was  the  Evangeii- 
only  one  to  consciously  cast  aside  the  religious  character- 
physics,  Paul  supported  by  Scripture  proofs  and  zeal- 
ously refuted  its  opponents,  especially  the  "  old  ex- 
positors", the  Alexandrians.  He  did  away  with  all 
Church  liturgies  in  which  the  essential  Divinity  of 
Christ  was  proclaimed ;  he  would  know  nothing  of 
"substances",  but  held  fast  to  the  living  Person. 
His  teaching  was  considered  heretical  in  the  highest 
degree  by  the  learned  Hellenic  bishops :  He  has  be- 
trayed the  mystery !  In  the  confession  of  six  bishops 
against  him  the  physical  Logos-doctrine  was  set  forth 
in  broad  terms  as  a  most  important  part  of  the  apos- 
tolic and  Catholic  Church  faith.  At  the  synod  the 
word  "  6ßoou<Tios  "  was  also  expressly  cast  aside,  evi- 
dently because  Paul  had  used  it  for  the  Logos  in 
order  to  prove  by  it  that  God  and  the  Logos  are  one 
subject.  With  Paul's  deposition  and  removal  (272)  Depo"ed. 
it  was  decided  that  no  Catholic  Christian  dare  any 
more  doubt  the  Divine pliysis  of  the  Redeemer.  But 
the  teaching  of  Paul  did  not  succumb  in  Antioch 
without  leaving  its  trace  behind.  Lucian  and  his  Lucian. 
renowned    professional     school,    the    birthplace    of 


176        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Arianism,  were  fructified  by  the  spirit  of  Paul. 
However,  the  doctrine  is  badly  disfigured  in  Arian- 
ism by  reason  of  its  combination  with  the  hyposta- 

photinus.  tizecl  Xdyo^-xriaßa.  On  the  contrary  Photinus  and  the 
great  Antiochians — although  the  latter  acknowledged 
the  Nicene  symbol — learned  their  best  lesson  from 
Paul :  So-called  Nestorianism  had  its  roots  in  Paul's 
teaching,  and  in  it  Paul  was  once  more  condemned. 
How  long  unbroken  adoption  views  held  their 
sway  in  outlying  Oriental  churches  is  indicated  by 
the  Acta  Archelai,  written  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century.  What  its  author,  a  clerical  teacher, 
says  about  Christ  is  very  like  the  teaching  of  Paul. 
But  in  the  great  centres  of  Christianity  adoptionism 
was  totally  broken  down  by  about  270. 

Monarc£c  (^)  The  Rejection  of  Modalistic  Monarchian- 
ism.  Not  adoptionism,  but  modalism  was  the  dan- 
gerous opponent  of  the  Logos- Christology  between 
180  and  300,  the  doctrine  according  to  which  the 
Godhead  itself  is  seen  incarnate  in  Christ,  and  he 
himself  considered  the  very  and  only  God.  Against 
this  view  Tertullian,  Origen,  Novatian,  and  espe- 
cially Hippolytus  contended  most  energetically  ("pa- 
tripassiani",  they  were  first  called  by  Tertullian; 
in  the  Orient  later  the  most  common  expression  was 
"  Sabelliani  ").  Hippolytus  says  that  in  his  time  the 
question   agitated  the  whole  Church  (Philos.  IX,  6 : 

ßiyiffTov  Tdpa%oy   xard   Tzdvra  rov  xöffßov  h  izaaiv  roTs  -kl<jto1$ 

tfißdMouffiv),  and  Tertullian  and  Origen  testify  that 
the  majority  of  Christian  people  think  "monarch- 


lauism. 


THE  LAYING  OF  THE  FOUNDATION.     177 

ianically".  In  Rome,  from  Victor  to  Calixtus,  D^^iu 
modalism  was  the  official  doctrine ;  among  the  Mon-  ^Sto??™ 
tanists  one-half  thought  modalistically ;  the  Marcio- 
nite  church  also  leaned  toward  this  view,  and  in  the 
Catholic  Church  from  the  earliest  times  on  many- 
formulas  were  used  which  served  to  promote  this 
form  of  thought,  which  indeed  in  reality  best  agreed 
with  the  plain,  unreflecting  faith  (6  &e6g  fiou  Xpi<jr6<s). 
But  an  exclusive  modalistic  doctrine  was  first  de- 
veloped in  opposition  to  gnosticism  and  the  Logos- 
Christology,  (1)  in  order  to  ward  off  ditheism,  (2)  in 
order  to  maintain  the  full  Divinity  of  Christ,  (3)  in 
order  to  sever  all  connection  with  gnosticism.  Now 
for  the  first  time  men  sought  to  establish  this  faith 
energetically  as  doctrine.  Scientific  theologians  came 
to  its  defence.  But  to  this  religious  conception  more 
than  to  any  other  contact  with  thought  and  science 
must  needs  prove  detrimental :  It  was  the  beginning 
of  the  end ;  however,  the  death-struggle  continued  a 
long  time.  The  stoic  philosophy  with  its  pantheism 
and  its  dialectical  formulas  was  called  in  to  assist 
(the  adoptionists  relied  in  part  upon  Aristotle ;  see 
above).  The  controversy  thus  presented  a  phase 
which  makes  it  appear  related  to  the  controversy  of 
the  Platonists  and  common  stoics  about  the  idea  of 
God  (whether  the  Xoyo$-&e6$  is  the  lutimate  God,  or 
whether  there  still  stands  behind  him  an  apathetic  ov 
as  #ed?).  The  oldest  defenders  of  modalism,  how- 
ever, had  at  the  same  time  an  express  Biblical  in- 
terest. 

12 


178       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Asia  Minor 
and  Rome 

First 
Theatres. 


( 'alixtus' 
Compro- 
mise 
Formula. 


Two  Mon- 
archian 

Postulates. 


(a)  Here  also  were  Asia  Minor  and  Rome  the 
first  theatres  of  the  controversy.  In  the  former  was 
Noetus  (he,  however,  was  probably  finally  excom- 
municated), in  the  latter  his  pupil  Epigonus  (about 
200),  who  won  first  Kleomenes,  then  Sabellius  to  his 
cause.  Against  them  Hippolytus  came  forward ;  but 
the  bishops  of  Rome  favored  the  school  (above  all 
Zephyrinus) .  Calixtus  (217-222),  originally  a  modal- 
ist,  sought  to  satisfy  all  parties  by  a  compromise 
formula  and  found  himself  thereby  obliged  to  excom- 
municate Hippolytus  (rival  bishop)  as  well  as  Sabel- 
lius. His  formula  seems  to  have  pacified  the  major- 
ity. How  imperfect  our  knowledge  of  this  matter 
is,  is  indicated  by  the  circumstance  that  Hippolytus 
is  wholly  silent  about  the  modalist  Praxeas  in  Rome 
(see  Tertullian).  Probably  the  latter  came  to  Rome 
before  Epigonus  (perhaps  even  under  Eleutherus), 
but  had  not  at  that  time  aroused  opposition.  Since 
he  also  went  to  Carthage  and  was  an  out-and-out 
anti-Montanist,  Tertullian  used  his  name  in  order 
to  combat  the  Roman  modalism  in  general  (about 
210).  Certain  is  it  that  Victor,  who  excommunicated 
Theodotus,  did  so,  not  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
Logos-Christology,  but  rather  from  that  of  modalism. 
Yet  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  two  monarchian 
views  are  more  nearly  related  to  each  other  than 
is  either  of  them  to  the  Logos-Christology.  Both 
defend  the  redemptive  historical  view  of  the  Person 
of  Christ,  as  against  the  naturalistic  historical,  and 
often  pass  from  into  each  other  (as  to  Beryllus  one 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  179 

can  question  whether  he  was  an  adoptionist  or  a 
modalist ;  in  the  writings  of  Origen  not  a  few  pas- 
sages leave  us  in  doubt  which  party  he  is  contending 
against ;  the  compromise  formula  of  Calixtus  is  also 
variegated).  The  simplest  form  of  modalism  is  rep- 
resented by  Noetus  (see  Hippolytus) :  Christ  is  the  Noetus. 
Father  himself,  who  was  born  and  died.  If  Christ 
is  not  the  Father,  then  is  he  not  God.  Next  to  the 
monotheistic  interest  (opponents  were  called  ät&eoi) 
was  the  interest  in  the  full  Divinity  of  Christ  (yaaxou- 

<ti>  ffuviffräv  Iva  #eov — r\  oov  xaxov  izoico  do^d^cov  tuv  ApMjrov 
— XpiGTos  rtv  &eo$  y.ai   eitaa^ev   dC  ?j/iä$  aorus  <bv  Tzarrjp^  Iva 

xai  amaat  ^/xäg  duvy&f).  Scripture  evidence  was  Ex. 
3:  6;  20:  2  seq ;  Isa.  44:  G;  45 :  5,  14;  Baruch  3: 
36;  Jno.  10:  30;  14:  8  seq;  Rom.  9:5;  the  Johan- 
nean  Gospel  was  recognized;  but  'Iwdwys  pAv  Xiyet 
Xöyov,  äW  aMco?  äXX-qyopeZ.     The  conception  "Logos" 

Specula- 
Was    rigidly   rejected.      Speculatively   the    idea    of  tiveideaof 

God  is  grounded  (in  Kleomenes)  upon  the  thought 
that  God  is  invisible  if  he  wishes,  visible  however 
when  he  permits  himself  to  be  seen ;  intangible  when 
he  does  not  wish  to  be  touched,  tangible  when 
he  presents  himself  to  be  touched;  unbegotten 
and  begotten;  mortal  and  immortal  (old  Church 
formulas  justified  by  the  stoic  idea  of  God).  The 
Father  so  far  as  he  deigned  to  be  born  is  the  Son ; 
both  are  therefore  only  nominally  to  be  distin- 
guished ;  but  the  distinction  is  also  an  historical,  re- 
demptive one.  In  favor  of  the  identity  they  called 
to  mind  the  Old  Testament  theophanies.     That  they 


180        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

after  the  manner  of  the  stoics  attributed  to  the  God- 
head itself  the  element  of  finiteness  cannot  be  proven. 
Modaifsm  It  is  the  old  naive  modalism,  which  is  here  exalted 
to  a  theory  (otherwise,  observe  that  all  early  Chris- 
tian writers,  who  were  not  philosophical,  knew  only 
one  birth  of  the  Son,  that  from  the  virgin).  The 
theory  was  wrecked  in  this,  that  in  the  Gospels 
without  doubt  two  subjects  (Father  and  Son)  are 
presupposed.  However,  the  modalists  hardly  de- 
clared unequivocally:  The  Father  suffered;  they 
said,  the  Son,  who  suffered,  is  identical  with  the 
Father  (bishop  Zephyrinus:  ty®  olda  eva  &edv  \(>>(tt<)v 

'ItjgoZv  y.a)  -h^  abrou  irepa  obdiva  yv^xuv  xat   r.a^r^öy^  but: 

obi  °f  7raT7?j°  «~c#«^,  äXXä  6  oi6$).  More  complicated  is 
PraSeas?  the  doctrine  of  "  Praxeas  "  and  the  formulas  of  Ca- 
lixtus;  they  indicate  a  trace  of  the  difficulties: 
"Logos"  is  no  substance,  it  is  nothing  else  than 
sound  and  word.  Praxeas,  in  tendency  and  in  Scrip- 
ture argument  at  one  with  Noetus,  made,  however, 
a  clearer  distinction  between  the  Father  and  the  Son : 
God  through  the  assumption  of  the  flesh  made  him- 
self into  the  Son;  the  flesh  makes  the  Father  into 
the  Son,  i.e.  in  the  Person  of  the  Redeemer  the  flesh 
(the  man  Jesus)  is  the  Son,  the  Spirit  (God,  Christ) 
is  the  Father  (citation  of  Luke  1 :  35).  That  which 
ivas  born  is  the  Son ;  the  Spirit  (God)  could  not  suf- 
fer ;  so  far  as  he  entered  into  the  flesh  he  shared  the 
^BeSmes  suffering  {"pater  compassus  est  filio").  As  soon 
Aajsm!°n  as  the  distinguishing  of  caro  (filius)  and  spiritus 
{pater)  was  taken   strictly   modalism   passes   over 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  181 

into  adoptionism.  This  took  place  in  part  through 
Calixtus,  who  in  his  formula  of  reconciliation  ac- 
cepted the  Logos  (but  as  a  designation  of  the  Father 
also)  and  an  adoption  element  (this  Hippolytus  has 
well  observed),  but  by  means  of  it  actually  trans- 
ferred the  faith  of  the  Roman  church  to  the  Logos- 
Christology,  and  to  the  physico-deification  doctrine — 
excommunicating  his  old  friend  Sabellius.  Yet  the 
gnostical  subordinationism  of  Tertullian  and  Hippo-  Formula, 
lytus  could  never  gain  acceptance  in  Rome  (Calix- 
tus' formula :  tov  Xöyov  auTuv  elvat  ulov  abrdv  xai  -izaripa 
(stoic  Myog-&e6$\  xa\  tzaxipa  ovopatTt  p.iv  xaXovpevov^  ?v  dk 
ov  Tu  rcvebpa  adtaipeTov  *  obx  uXXo  elvat  izaripa^  o.XXo  de  olövy 
riv  de  xai  to  aoTu  uizdpyetv  xai  toi  itavTa  yipetv  too  ftetou 
meußCLTOS  to.  re  avoj  xai  xö.tw  xa\  elvat  to  iv  ttj  Trapftivu) 
aapxiottev  Trvebpa  ob%  £Tepov  izapa  Tuv  -aTlpa^  äXXä  ev  xa\  to 
auTo.  Aal  touto  elvat  to  elpi\pivov  '  Jno.  14:  11.  To  pev 
yap  ßkeTtopevov  oi:ep  Io~t\v  avftpajizos^  tooto  elvat  tov  ulov9 
to  dt  iv  rip  ol(p  ywprfHv  -veopa  tooto  elvat  tov  izaTipa  ■  ob 
yäp  ty7]<rtv  ipco  duo  fieous  ~a~ipa  xa\  ulov^  aXX  eva.  (0  yap 
iv  aoTw  yevop.evo?  izaTrtp  icpotjkaßö ptevog  ttjv  rrapxa  hS-eoicoifjffev 
IvüHjas  (auT(py  xa\  erzoifjo'ev  tv^  w<z  x.aXelaftat  rzaTipa  xa)  ulbv 
iva  &e6v.  xai  tooto  ev  ov  ~p6<Tto7rov  p~q  dbvaaftat  elvat  dbo^ 
xa\  outo)<$  Tuv  itaTlpa  Gop~e~ovftivat  tw  utai  •  ob  yap  ftiXet 
X-yetv  tuv  -izaTzpa  7ceitov&£vatY 

Certain  is  it  that  the  learned  and  influential  Nova-      cSIS" 

tology 

tian  (de  trinit.)  did  much  toward  bringing  about  Abandoned 
the  final  abandonment  of  the  Logos- Christology  in    °ccident- 
the  Occident.     About  the  year  260  the  Roman  bis- 
hop Dionysius  Wrote :   -aßiXXto?  ßXa(T<pqpeT^  aoTuv  tuv  oluv 


182        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

ehat  Xiyujv  rdv  naripa^  Cyprian  marked  patripassian- 
ism  as  a  pestilential  heresy  like  Marcionitism,  and  he 
himself  shoved  into  a  second  recension  of  the  Roman 
symbol  (Aqnileja)  the  phrase:"  Credo  in  deo  patre 
omnipotente,  invisibiliet  impassibili".  However, 
the  Logos-Christology  had  never  found  a  congenial 
soil  in  the  Occident ;  men  let  it  pass,  but  they  held 
much  more  firmly — in  this  there  was  a  real  interest — 
to  the  article  of  faith :  Christ  is  true,  complete  God, 
and  there  is  only  one  God.  This  attitude  of  the  Oc- 
cident became  of  most  decisive  significance  in  the 
Arian  controversy :  The  Nicene  doctrine  is,  not  as  a 
philosophical  speculation,  but  as  the  direct,  symboli- 
cal faith,  as  much  the  property  of  the  Occidental 
church  of  the  third  century,  as  the  Chalcedon  doctrine. 
Accordingly  many  Occidental  teachers,  who  were 
not  influenced  by  Plato  and  the  Orient,  used  in 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries  modalistic  formulas 
occidental  without  hesitation,  above  all  Commodian.     The  the- 

Theology 

Augustine.  °l°gy  of  the  Occident  until  Augustine  shows  in  gen- 
eral a  mingling  of  Ciceronian  morality,  massive, 
primitive  Christian  eschatology,  and  unreflecting 
Christology  with  more  or  less  latent  modalism  (one 
God  in  the  strictest  sense;  Christ  God  and  man) 
and  practical  Church  politics  (penitential  institute), 
which  is  wholly  foreign  to  the  Orient  (Arnobius, 
Lactantius,  Commodian).  They  were  no  mystics, 
in  part  opponents  of  Neo-Platonism.  How  hard  it 
would  have  been  for  them  to  make  themselves  at 
home  in  the  speculations  of  the  Orient  is  indicated 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  183 

by  the  energetic,  but  abortive  attempt  of  Hilarius  and 

the   theological    barbarism  of   Lucifer.     It   is   well 

understood  that  modalism  did  not  continue  in  the 

Occident  as  a  sect,  so  long  as  in  the  Orient ;  it  found 

in  the  latter,  even  in  the  prevailing  form  of  teaching 

especially  where  the  Logos  was  accepted,  a  shelter. 

(b)    The   accounts  of  the   old  modalism   in   the  ow  Modal- 
ism in 
Orient  are  very  turbid ;  for  subsequently  everything      orient. 

is  called  "Sabellianism",  which  pertains  to  the  eter- 
nal and  enduring  hypostasis  of  the  Son  {e.g.  Marcel- 
lus'  doctrine  ).  Already  in  the  third  century  in  the 
Orient  speculation  concerning  the  modalistic  theses 
increased  greatly  and  was  carried  out  into  manifold 
forms,  and  the  historians  of  the  movement  (Epipha- 
nius,  Athanasius,  etc. )  add  thereto  still  other  discov- 
ered forms.     Just  as  one  can  write  no  history  of  the   impossible 

J  to  Write 

Logos-Christology  in   the   Orient    from    Origen   to  ^lodailsn? 

Athanasius — the    sources  have  been  destroyed — so 

also  one  can  write  no  history  of  modalism.     It  is 

certain  that  the  contest  began  later  in  the  Orient, 

but  it  was  more  passionate  and  enduring  and  led  to 

the  development  of  the  Origenistic  Christology  in 

the  direction  of  Arianism  (also  antithetic) .     The  first 

great  agitation  took  place  in  the  Pentapolis,  after 

that  Origen  combated  the  "  singular  "  modalists   as 

Christian   brethren    and   sharply  criticised  bishops 

(Roman),  who  made  the  distinction  between  Father 

and  Son  merely  nominal  (the  condemnation  of  Origen 

at  Rome  under  Pontianus  may  also  have  had  reference 

to  his  Christology).     Perhaps  Sabellius  himself  near 


184:        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

sabeiiius'    -Qie  end  0f  his  life  went  (again?)  from  Rome  into 

Doctrine. 

the  Pentapolis.  He  was  already  dead  when  Diony- 
sius  of  Alexandria  combated  Sabellianism  there. 
He  is  to  be  distinguished  from  Foetus  by  his  more 
careful  theological  deductions  and  by  his  regard  for 
the  Holy  Spirit:  To  one  Being  are  attached  three 
names  (Father,  Son,  and  Spirit),  otherwise  polythe- 
ism would  be  established ;  the  three  names  are  at  the 
same  time  three  energies.  The  one  Being  is  to  be 
called  uio-drwp — a  designation  for  the  being  of  God 
himself.  However  this  Being  is  not  at  the  same 
moment  Father  and  Son,  but  in  three  consecutive,  in- 
terchanging energies  (prosopons)  he  acts  as  Creator 
and  Law-giver,  as  Redeemer,  as  Quickener  (through 
this  teaching  the  conception  "  Prosopon  ",  "  Person  " 
became  discredited  in  the  Orient).  Whether  it  was 
possible  for  Sabellius  to  carry  through  the  thought  of 
strict  succession,  we  do  not  know.  Perhaps  he  still 
permitted  the  Prosopon  of  the  Father  to  continue 
SAd<Ss   active  (the  Sabellians  fell  back  upon  the  Old  Testa- 

O    T     Cos-  ■ 

'  pei  to      ment  Scriptures,  but  also  upon   the   Gospel  to  the 

Egyptians, 

etc.  Egyptians  and  other  apocrypha — a  proof  that  the 
Catholic  canon  had  not  yet  established  itself  in  the 
Pentapolis).  This  distinguished  itself  from  the  ear- 
lier modalism,  not  by  a  stronger  pantheistic  tendency, 
nor  by  a  new  doctrine  of  the  trinity  (both  came 
thereto  first  later  in  the  fourth  century,  if  the  modi- 
fications were  not  introduced  by  the  historians),  but 
by  the  attempt  to  explain  the  succession  of  the  Pro- 
sopons, by  the  attention  given  to  the  Holy  Spirit  (see 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  185 

above)  and  by  the  drawing  of  a  formal  parallel  be- 
tween the  Prosopon  of  the  Father  and  the  two  other 
Prosopons,  which  indeed  tended  toward  the  accept- 
ance of  a  fiovd$-A6yos  back  of  the  Prosopon  ((tugtoXt}  and 
-AavutTßos),  who  never  reveals  himself,  but  becomes 
known  only  through  his  activity  (this  view  is  favored 

by  Schleiermacher,  Theol.  Ztschr.  1822  H.  3).     Cos-    Sabellian- 
ism Pre- 

mology  is  introduced  by  Sabellius  as  a  parallel  to   ^cltha-y 
soteriology,   without  the  preference  being  given  to      chrfs" 

tology. 

the  Father,  and  thereby  in  a  peculiar  manner  the 
way  was  prepared  for  the  Athanasian  Christ  ology, 
i.e.  the  Augustinian.  This  is  the  decisive  signifi- 
cance of  Sabellianism  in  the  Orient.  It  prepared 
there  the  way  for  the  6ßoou<jtos ;  for  that  the  Sabellians 
made  use  of  this  word  (on  the  other  hand  also  Paul 
of  Samosata)  is  clear.  "While  within  modalism  there 
was  hitherto  no  firm  connection  between  cosmology 
and  soteriology,  under  the  later  Sabellianism  the 
history  of  the  world  and  of  redemption  became  one 
history  of  the  self -revealing  God;  this  became  of 
equal  rank  with  the  Logos-Christology.  In  different 
ways  Marcellus  and  Athanasius  sought  to  reconcile 
the  main  principles  of  modalism  and  the  Logos- 
Christology  :  The  former  failed,  the  latter  succeeded 
in  that  he  almost  entirely  excluded  the  world-idea 
from  the  Logos-idea,  i.e.  restored  the  Logos  (as  the 
Sabellians  the  wfc>?),  to  the  being,  yes,  to  the  numerical 
unity  of  God. 

(c)  History  of  Oriental  theology  until  the  be-    Theology 

to  400. 

ginning  of  the  fourth  century. — The  next  conse- 


18G        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Alexan- 
drians 
Submit  to 
Rome. 


Contro- 
versy Pre 
lüde  to 
Arian. 


quence  of  modalism  was  that  the  followers  of  Origen 
gave  to  the  Logos-Christology  a  strong  subordination 
cast.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  went  so  far  as  to  set 
forth  in  a  doctrinal  letter  the  Son  simply  as  a  crea- 
tion, which  is  related  to  the  Father  as  the  vine  to  the 
gardener  and  as  the  boat  to  the  builder  (Athana- 
sius,  de  sentent.  Diony.).  He  was  denounced  by  his 
Roman  colleague  of  the  same  name  (about  200) ;  the 
latter  published  a  warning,  in  which  he  very  charac- 
L-teristically  branded  modalism  as  a  heresy ;  first,  on 
the  ground  of  its  affinity  with  the  Christology  then 
current  in  Alexandria,  which  he  however  totally 
misunderstood  and  represented  in  its  coarsest  form ; 
second,  on  account  of  its  tritheism.  And  without 
any  adjustment,  he  proclaimed  the  paradox,  that 
one  must  believe  in  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  and 
these  three  are  at  the  same  time  one.  The  Alexan- 
drian college,  presenting  now  the  other  side  of  the 
Origenistic  Christology,  humbly  submitting,  ex- 
plained that  it  had  nothing  against  the  word  tfioou- 
«no? ;  the  Father  was  always  Father,  the  Son  always 
Son,  and  the  latter  is  related  to  the  former  as  the 
beam  is  to  the  light,  the  stream  to  the  fountain ;  they 
even  went  farther  and  explained  that  in  the  very 
designation  "  Father "  the  Son  is  included ;  but  in 
the  diplomatic  writing  the  bishop  allowed  himself  a 
mental  reservation ;  he  would  have  been  obliged  to 
set  aside  the  Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  i.e.  science, 
if  he  had  rejected  every  neptfffiog  in  the  Godhead.  This 
controversy  was  a  prelude  to  the  Arian,  it  ended 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  187 

quickly  and  its  culmination  did  not  require  the  Alex- 
andrians to  restrict  their  speculations.  Thej'  were 
besides  also  very  anxious  to  replace  the  old  simple 
faith  in  the  churches  (when  it  became  inconvenient) 
by  the  philosophical  (Dionysius  labored  in  Egyptian 
villages  against  chiliasm ;  his  opponent  was  Nepos ; 
Euseb.,  H.  E.  VII,  24,  25),  but  at  the  same  time  to 
refute  the  empirical  philosophy  (Dionysius'  Tract 
on  nature  against  the  atomic  theory).  The  Logos- 
and  Christus-doctrine  was  worked  out  by  the  leaders 
of  the  catechetical  school  in  the  spirit  of  Origen 
(finer  philosophical  polytheism) ;  but  out  of  the  com- 
prehensive literature  we  have  only  insignificant  frag- 
ments :  Pierius,  the  junior  of  Origen,  expressly  desig- 
nated the  Father  and  Logos  as  two  obaiai  and  two 
<po(jei$  and  subordinated  the  Holy  Spirit  very  greatly 
to  the  Son,  as  the  third  ouaia.  He  taught  the  pre- 
existence  of  so  als  and  contested  the  verbal  sense  of 
some  Scripture  passages  as  not  authoritative.     The-       The; 

i  r  °  ognostus 

ognostus  (in  the  time  of  Diocletian)  composed  a  com-  orfgenSS 
prehensive  dogmatic  work,  which  as  a  system  sur-     tion  of 

Arianism. 

passed  that  of  Origen  and  had  a  form  that  has  been 
in  use  until  to-day.  He  moreover  developed  Origen- 
ism  in  the  direction  of  Arius.  Another  Origenist, 
Hierakas,  established  an  order  of  monks,  in  whose 
celibacy  he  saw  something  new  in  Christian  ethics 
and,  as  it  seems,  emphasized  more  strongly  the  sub- 
stantial unity  of  the  Father  and  Son.  At  all  events 
Peter  (f  as  martyr  311),  bishop  of  Alexandria,  did  peter. 
this.     In   him    the   Alexandrian    bishop   again   in- 


188        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

clined  toward  the  views  of  the  Demetrius,  who  had 
condemned  Origen.  Under  what  circumstances  this 
happened  is  unknown.  But  from  his  extant  writ- 
ings it  is  clear  that  he  substituted  Biblical  realism 
(history  of  the  creation  and  the  fall)  for  the  Ori- 
genistic  spiritualism  and  designated  this  as  fidfypa 
T?;$  'EMyvtxfc  natdeiag.  Yet  this  reaction  on  the  part 
of  Peter  was  still  not  a  radical  one ;  he  only  rounded 
off  the  points;  he  began  in  Alexandria  the  adjust- 
ment between  the  realistic  faith  of  the  simple-minded 
and  the  scientific  faith,  by  means  of  subtractions  and 
additions :  That  which  was  before  his  mind  was  a 
concordant  faith  which  should  be  at  the  same  time 
ecclesiastical  and  scientific.  Bat  the  time  for  this 
was  not  yet  at  hand  (see  the  Cappadocians) ;  freedom 
still  ruled  in  theology,  which  latter,  it  is  true,  was 
pushing  on  toward  its  complete  secularization  and 
submersion.  Already  every  future  conception  was 
current ;  but  there  was  wanting  as  yet  a  definite 
statement  of  them  and  a  fixed  value  *,  yes,  they  were 
looked  upon  as  unbiblical,  by  many  still  as  suspicious, 
^hfuma-  The  state  of  the  doctrine  of  faith  is  best  reflected 
in  the  works  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  the  en- 
thusiastic  pupil    of    Origen,    the    most    influential 

*  Thus  fiovag,  rpiag,  ovaia,  (pv<7/g1  vrroKEifievov,  vrroGTaaig,  TTpöccdirov, 
-Kepiypatyy,  p,e pithead m,  öiatpelv,  Tvlarvveiv,  <7vyKE<pa?aiova^aiJ  kti^eiv, 
itoieiv,  yiyvEcdat.,  yevvav,  o/uoovaiog,  en  Tfjg  ovalag  rov  warpog,  dia  tov 
tfe/l^uarof,  ÜEÖg  en  üeov,  <j>üg  ek  (JHjrog,  yevv^evra  ov  TrotTf&evTa,  r/v  ore 
ovk  r]v,  ovk  rjv  ore  ovk  tjv)  srepog  war'  oiialav,  ärpEirrog,  avaXkoioTog ', 
ayEwrjTog,  aTJidrpcog,  Tcrjy^  rrjg  ■&eor?jTog1  ovo  ovciai,  ovala  ovaio/ievy, 
kvavfipiomjoig,  deävüpcJTrog,  kvuutg  ovciudr/g,  Evuacg  Kara  /usTOVoiav, 
cvvd(j)eta  Kara  fxaftrjoiv  ml  fiETovoiav,  ovyapacig  evolkeIv,  etc. 


THE   LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  189 

theologian  in  Asia  Minor.  One  sees  here  that  the 
"  scientific  "  itself  trembled  before  the  fine  polytheism 
which  it  introduced,  and  farther  that  Christology 
became  pure  philosophy :  The  symbol  which  Gregory 
disseminated  among  the  churches  hardly  corresponded 
in  a  single  sentence  with  the  Biblical  statements ;  it 
is  a  compendium  of  the  purest  speculations,  recall- 
ing the  Gospel  only  in  the  words,  Father,  Son,  and 
Spirit.  Therein  Christian  faith  was  expected  to  rec- 
ognize itself  once  more ! 

No  wonder  that  a  reaction  set  in,  if  indeed  a  tame    Reaction; 

Methodius. 

one.  By  the  side  of  Peter  of  Alexandria  there  ap- 
peared here  and  there  in  the  Orient  about  the  year 
300  opponents  of  Origen  who  compelled  those  who 
still  honored  him  to  come  to  his  defence.  The  most 
significant  and  influential  of  these  opponents  was 
Methodius  (about  300).  He  was  no  enemy  of  Plato 
and  of  speculation — quite  the  contrary ;  but  he  wished 
to  harmonize  the  Biblical  realism  and  the  verbal 
sense  of  the  rule  of  faith  with  science — a  neiv  Ire- 
nseus,  he  wanted  a  consistent  faith  which  would  be 
purely  ecclesiastical  and  purely  scientific.  Moreover 
all  the  heretical  points  of  Origenism  must  be  rounded  °^-^^ 
off,  in  order  that  the  latter  may  be  thereby  introduced 
in  this  form  into  the  ecclesiastical  faith  (speculative 
realism;  Methodius  had  read  Irenseus).  Above  all 
the  pessimism  of  Origen  as  regards  the  world  (with- 
in the  cosmology)  must  be  set  aside :  Matter  and  the 
human  body  were  approved  by  God  and  will  there- 
fore be  glorified  and  remain  eternal.     In  accordance 


190        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

with  this  the  Origenistic  teaching  concerning  the 
eternal  creation  of  spirits,  concerning  the  fall  in  a 
pre-existent  state,  concerning  the  character  and  pur- 
pose of  the  world,  etc. ,  were  set  aside.  In  the  place 
of  the  same  the  mystico-realistic  teaching  of  Irenseus 
concerning  Adam  (mankind)  was  reintroduced,  but 
was  still  more  mystically  developed  and  brought  into 
an  alliance  with  the  recapitulation-theory.  Man- 
kind before  Christ  was  Adam  (in  need  of  redemption, 
but  in  the  condition  of  children).  Through  the 
second  Adam  the  Logos  unites  himself  with  us.     But 

Second1  Methodius  went  a  step  farther;  the  new  mankind 
as  a  whole  is  the  second  Adam.  Every  one  should 
become  Christ,  inasmuch  as  the  Logos  unites  itself 
with  every  soul  as  with  Christ  (the  descent  of  the 
Logos  from  heaven  and  his  death  must  be  repeated 
for  every  soul — namely  within).  This  comes  to  pass 
not  so  much  through  knowledge  as  through  virginity 
and  ascetism.     The  theoretic  optimism  was  also  bal- 

Extreme    anced  by  the  renunciation  of  the  world  expressed  in 

Regard  for  ^  x 

Virginity.  yjrginity.  No  ecclesiastic  before  Methodius  had  so 
prized  virginity  as  he,  so  prized  it  as  a  means  of 
mystic  union  with  the  Godhead  (virginity  is  the 
end  of  the  incarnation).  In  that  the  realism  of  the 
doctrine  of  faith  was  here  bound  up  with  the  Origen- 
istic speculation,  the  two-foldness  of  faith  and  the 
science  of  faith  reduced  to  one,  theoretical  optimism 
(as  regards  the  sensuous  world)  joined  to  the  practi- 
cal renunciation  of  the  world,  and  everything  made 
dependent  upon  the  mystic  union  with  the  Godhead 


THE  LAYING   OF   THE   FOUNDATION.  191 

without  a  denial  of  the  objective  significance  of 
Christ  as  the  Redeemer  (although  this  is  pushed 
into  the  back-ground),  the  dogmatics  of  the  future 
in  its  main  outlines  triumphed. 

That   which   Methodius   had  done  for  dogmatics  ^fJn?00" 
as  developed  doctrine,  the    bishops   did  about  the     itaieot 
year  300  for  the  rule  of  faith,  in  so  far  as  they  in- 
troduced the  scientific   Logos-doctrine  into  the  in- 
structional symbol,  thereby  neutralizing  the  distinc 
tion   between   faith    and    scientific    dogmatics  and 
placing  the  chief  contribution  of  Hellenic  speculation 
under  the  protection  of  the  apostolic  tradition.     The 
Oriental  symbols  of  this  time  (symbol  of  Caesarea, 
of  Alexandria,  of  the  six  bishops  against  Paul,  of 
Gregory   Thaumaturgus,  etc.)  put  themselves   for- 
ward  as   the   incontestible   apostolic  faith  of  the 
Church  and  are  the  philosophical   constructions   of 
the  rule  of  faith:  The  exegetical-speculative  tlieolo-    Exegetic- 

al  Specu- 

gy  ivas  introduced  into  faith  itself.  This  came  T1J^e 
to  pass  through  the  Logos-doctrine ;  the  dogma  was 
now  found  and  established.  A  divine  Being  has 
actually  appeared  upon  the  earth,  and  his  appear- 
ance is  the  key  to  cosmology  and  soteriology.  How- 
ever, these  fundamental  theses  were  accepted  only 
in  the  widest  circles.  But  men  could  not  rest  with 
this,  so  long  as  it  was  not  definitely  determined  how 
the  divine  Being,  who  has  appeared  upon  the  earth, 
is  related  to  the  highest  Divinity.  Is  the  divine 
Being  who  has  appeared  upon  the  earth  the  Divinity 
himself,   or  is  he  a  subordinate,   second   Divinity? 


Added. 


192       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Are  we  redeemed  by  God  himself  unto  God,  or  do  we 
'stand  also  in  the  Christian  religion  only  in  a  cosmic 
system,  and  is  our  Redeemer  only  the  subordinate 
God  who  is  at  work  in  the  world? 


part  2, 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOGMA. 


BOOK  I. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOGMA  AS 
DOCTRINE  OF  THE  GOD-MAN  UPON  THE 
BASIS  OF  NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORICAL    SURVEY. 

Walsch,  Entw.  einer  vollst.  Historie  der  Ketzereien, 
1762  ff.  Hefele,  Conciliengesch.  2.  Aufl.,  Bd.  I-IV.  His- 
tories of  the  Roman  Empire,  by  Tillemont,  Gibbon,  and 
Ranke.  Reville,  Die  Religion  z.  Rom.  unter  den  Severern 
(German  by  Krueger,  1888) .  Dorner,  Entw.  Gesch.  d.  L.  v. 
d.  Person  Christi,  1845.  H.  Schultz,  Die  L.  v.  d.  Gottheit 
Christi,  1881,  Gass,  Symbolik  d.  griech.  Kirche,  1872.  Den- 
zinger,  Ritus  Orientalium,  2  Bdd. ,  1863  f. 


New  Relig- 
iousness 


THE  Christian  religion  in  the  3d  century  made 
no  compromise  with  any  of  the  pagan  relig-  chillL 
ions  and  kept  far  away  from  the  numerous  intersec- 
tions out  of  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  mono- 
theistic philosophy  of  religion,  a  new  religiousness 
developed  itself.  But  the  spirit  of  this  religiousness 
entered  into  the  Church  and  produced  forms  of  ex- 
pression in  doctrine  and  cultns  to  correspond  with 
itself.     The  testament  of  primitive  Christianity — the 

Holy  Scriptures — and  the  testament  of  antiquity — 
13  193 


194        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  New-Platonic  speculation— were  by  the  end  of 
the  3d  century  intimately  and,  as  it  seemed,  insep- 
arably united  in  the  great  churches  of  the  East. 
Through  the  acceptance  of  the  Logos-Christology  as 
Doetrhle  tlie  central  dogma  of  the  Church,  the  Church  doctrine 
Mystery,  was,  even  for  the  laity,  firmly  rooted  in  the  soil  of 
Hellenism.  Thereby  it  became  a  mystery  to  the 
great  majority  of  Christians.  But  mysteries  were 
even  sought  after.  Not  the  freshness  and  clearness 
of  a  religion  attracted  men — there  must  needs  be 
something  refined  and  complicated,  a  structure  in 
Barroque  style,  to  content  those  who  at  that  time 
wished  to  have  all  the  idealistic  instincts  of  their 
nature  satisfied  in  religion.  United  with  this  desire 
was  the  greatest  reverence  for  all  traditions,  a  senti- 
ment peculiar  to  epochs  of  restoration.  But,  as  al- 
ways, the  old  became  new  by  conservation  and  the 
new  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  old. 
What  the  Church  utilized  in  doctrine,  cultus  and 
PoHttriand  organization  was  "apostolic",  or  claimed  to  be  de- 
ferred ?o~  duced  from  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  in  reality  it 
legitimized  in  its  midst  the  Hellenic  speculation, 
the  superstitious  views  and  customs  of  pagan  mys- 
tery-worship and  the  institutions  of  the  decaying 
state  organization  to  which  it  attached  itself  and 
which  received  new  strength  thereby.  In  theory 
monotheistic,  it  threatened  to  become  polytheistic  in 
practice  and  to  give  way  to  the  whole  apparatus  of 
low  or  malformed  religions.  Instead  of  a  religion  of 
pure  reason  and  severest  morality,  such  as  the  apol- 


Apostles. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     195 

ogists  had  once  represented  Christianity  to  be,  the 
latter  became  the  religion  of  the  most  powerful  con- 
secrations, of  the  most  mysterious  media  and  of 
a  sensuous  sanctity.  The  tendency  toward  the  in- 
vention of  mechanically-atoning  consecrations  (sac- 
raments) grew  constantly  more  pronounced  and  of- 
fended vigorously  thinking  heathen  even. 

The  adaptation  of  the  local  cults,   manners  and  Adaptation 

v  of  Local 

customs  must  needs  lead  finally  to  a  complete  secu-  Cults'  etc- 

larizing  and  splitting  of  the  Church  (into  national 

churches) ;   but  for  the  time  the  uniting  force  was 

stronger  than   the  dividing.     The  acknowledgment 

of  the  same  authorities  and  formulas,  the  like  regard 

for  the  same  sacramental  consecrations,  the  horror 

at  the  coarse  polytheism,  and  the  tendency  toward 

asceticism  for  the  sake  of  the  life  beyond,  formed, 

together  with  the  homogeneous  and  well-compacted 

episcopal   organization,    the   common   basis    of    the 

churches.     All  these  elements  were  not  sufficient,    Tendency 

however,  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  churches.     If    into  Na- 
tional 
Constantine  had  not  thrown  about  them  a  new  bond    churches. 

by  raising  them  to  the  Church  of  the  empire,  the 
split  which  one  observes  from  the  5th  century 
would  have  taken  place  much  earlier ;  for  the  episco- 
pal-metropolitan organization  carried  within  itself  a 
centrifugal  element,  and  the  asceticism  in  which  all 
earnest  thinkers  found  themselves  at  one,  could  not 
but  dissolve  the  historic  conditions  upon  which  the 
religion  rested,  and  destroy  the  communal  veneration 
of  God ;  besides,  differences  crept  more  and  more  into 


196        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Christian- 
ity Threat- 
ened with 
Complete 
Seculariza- 
tion. 


Bishops' 
and  Theo- 
logians1 
Church. 


the  expounding  of  the  authorities  and  doctrines, 
which  rendered  their  internal  harmony  questionable. 

Taking  one's  stand  at  the  end  of  the  3d  century 
one  cannot  avoid  the  impression,  that  ecclesiastical 
Christianity  at  that  time  was  threatened  with  com- 
plete secularization  and  with  external  and  internal 
dissolution.  The  danger  from  within  just  prior  to 
the  Diocletian  persecution,  Eusebius  himself  has  es- 
tablished (H.  E.  VIII,  i.).  He  admits — at  least  as 
regards  the  churches  of  the  Orient — that  they  threat- 
ened to  mingle  with  the  world,  and  that  pure  pagan- 
ism vaunted  itself  among  them.  The  Diocletian 
persecution  added  the  external  danger,  and  it  cannot 
be  said  that  it  was  the  strength  of  the  Church  alone 
which  triumphed  over  the  danger. 

Already  at  that  time  the  Church  was  a  bishops'  and 
theologians'  church.  But  the  power  which,  as  mat- 
ters then  stood,  was  alone  able  to  support  energet- 
ically the  distinctive  character  of  the  religion — the- 
ology— came  very  near  dissolving  it  and  handing  it 
over  to  the  world. 

In  concluding  "Part  I"  it  was  described  how 
philosophic  theology  gained  the  victory  within  the 
Church  and  hoiu  it  naturalized  its  theses  in  the 
very  formulas  of  the  faith.  "Ebionism"  and 
"  Sabellianism  "  were  conquered.  The  banner  of  the 
Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  however,  was  raised  in 
spite  of  the  shaking  off  of  gnosticism.  All  thinkers 
still  remained  under  the  influence  of  Origen.  But 
since  the  system  of  this  man  was  in  itself  already 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     197 

heterodox,  the  development  of  the  Alexandrian  the-  SSSenel 
ology  threatened  the  Church  with  further  dangers,  ^nates!"" 
Origen  had  kept  gnosis  and  pistis  unmixed;  he 
thought  to  link  together  in  a  conservative  sense 
everything  valuable  and  to  bring  to  a  kind  of  equi- 
librium the  divers  factors  (cosmologic  and  soteri- 
ologic) ;  he  had  given  to  his  theology  by  a  strict  ad- 
herence to  the  sacred  text  a  Biblical  stamp  and 
demanded   throughout   Scripture   proof.     With   the  origenism 

°  l  l  Modified. 

epigonoi,  however,  occurred  changes  everywhere: 
(1)  The  pupils  as  well  as  the  opponents  of  Origen  en- 
deavored to  place  pistis  and  gnosis  again  upon  the 
same  plane,  to  add  some  philosophy  to  the  formulas 
of  faith  and  to  subtract  something  from  the  gnosis. 
Precisely  thereby  a  stagnation  and  confusion  was 
threatening,  which  Origen  had  carefully  warded  off. 
The  faith  itself  became  obscure  and  unintelligible  to 
the  laity;  (2)  The  cosmologic  and  purely  philosophic 
interests  obtained  in  theology  a  preponderance  over 
the  soteriologic.  In  accordance  therewith  Christol- 
ogy  became  again  in  a  higher  degree  a  philosophic 
Logos-doctrine  (as  with  the  apologists)  and  the  idea 
of  the  cosmic  God  as  the  lower,  subordinate  God 
alongside  the  highest  God,  threatened  monotheism 
outright.  Already  here  and  there — in  opposition  to  ^fjgj  ^f" 
"  Sabellianism  " — articles  of  faith  were  being  com-     H?stöHc° 

Ohrist. 

posed,  in  which  there  was  no  mention  of  Christ,  but 
in  which  the  Logos  alone  was  glorified  in  a  profu- 
sion of  philosophic  predicates  as  the  manifested,  but 
subordinate  God ;  alreadv  the  incarnation  was  cele- 


198        OUTLINES    OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Eusebius 

of 
Caesarea. 


Konstan- 
tine, 
Atna- 
nasius. 


brated  as  the  rising  of  the  sun  which  illumines  all 
men ;  already  men  seemed  desirous  of  adapting  phe- 
nomena and  vice-regents  to  the  Neo-Platonic  idea  of 
the  one  unnamable  Being  and  his  graded  and  more 
or  less  numerous  powers,  while  they  encircled  all  with 
a  chaplet  of  philosophic  artificial  expressions;  (3) 
Even  the  Holy  Scriptures  gave  way  somewhat  in 
these  endeavors ;  yet  only  in  a  formal  manner  and 
without  forfeiting  their  value.  The  theology  which 
was  formed  out  of  these  elements  (e.  g.  Eusebius  of 
Caesarea  is  its  representative)  let  everything  pass 
that  kept  within  the  bounds  of  Origenism.  Its  rep- 
resentatives considered  themselves  as  conservatives, 
since  they  rejected  every  more  precise  definition  of 
the  doctrine  of  God  (doctrine  of  the  trinity)  and  of 
Christ  as  an  innovation  (antipathy  toward  precise 
definition  of  hitherto  not  precisely  defined  dogmas  has 
always  animated  the  majority  of  the  Church,  since 
precise  definition  is  innovation),  and  since  they  exert- 
ed themselves  solely  for  the  sake  of  science  and  the 
"  faith  "  to  give  form  to  the  Logos-doctrine  in  a  cos- 
mologic  sense  and  to  subordinate  everything  inward 
and  moral  to  the  thought  of  the  freedom  of  choice. 

Neither  thoughts  of  an  heroic  asceticism,  nor  real- 
istic mysticism  in  the  sense  of  Methodius,  nor  deduc- 
tions from  the  heterodoxies  of  Origen  could  aid  here. 
Theology,  and  with  it  the  Church,  seemed  to  be  irre- 
trievably swallowed  up  in  the  current  of  the  times. 
But  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  there  ap- 
peared a  man  who  saved  the  Church  seriously  threat- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     199 


ened  by  inward  strife  and  outward  persecution — 
Constantino — so  at  the  same  time  there  appeared  an- 
other man  who  preserved  the  Church  from  the  com- 
plete secularization  of  its  most  fundamental  faith — 
Athanasius.  True,  reactions  against  the  Logos-doc- 
trine in  the  direction  of  the  complete  alienation  of 
the  Son  of  God  from  the  Father  were  probably  at  no 
time  lacking  in  the  Orient ;  but  Athanasius  (assisted 
by  the  West,  the  bishops  of  which  however  did 
not  at  first  recognize  the  pith  of  the  question)  first 
secured  to  the  Christian  religion  its  own  territory 
upon  the  preoccupied  soil  of  Greek  speculation  and 
brought  everything  back  to  the  thought  of  redemp- 
tion through  God  himself,  i.e.  through  the  God-man, 
who  is  of  the  same  essence  with  God.  He  was  not 
concerned  about  a  formula,  but  about  a  decisive  basis 
for  faith,  about  redemption  unto  a  divine  life  by  the 
God -man.  Upon  this  surety  alone,  that  the  Divine 
which  appeared  in  Christ  has  the  nature  of  the  God- 
head itself,  and  only  on  that  account  is  able  to  ele- 
vate us  to  a  divine  life,  can  faith  receive  its  power, 
life  its  law  and  theology  its  direction.  But  while 
Athanasius  placed  faith  in  the  God-man,  which  alone 
frees  us  from  death  and  sin,  above  everything  else, 
he  at  the  same  time  gave  to  practical  piety,  which 
then  well-nigh  exclusively  lived  in  monkish  asceti- 
cism, the  highest  motive.  He  united  the  'Ofxaouvio?, 
which  guarantees   the   deification  *  of  human  nat- 


Redemp- 

tion 
through 
God-Man 
Funda- 
mental. 


Highest 

Motive 

Given  to 

Piety. 


*  Vergottung :  The  causing  to  partake  of  the  Divine  nature,  restoration 
to  the  Divine  likeness. 


200        OUTLINES    OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

ure,  in  the  closest  relations  with  the  monkish  as- 
ceticism and  lifted  the  latter  out  of  its  still  subterra- 
nean, or  insecure  sphere  into  the  public  life  of  the 
Church.  While  he  combated  the  formula  of  the 
koyos-xTiffiLa,  the  ISTeo-Platonic  doctrine  of  a  descending 
trinity,  as  pagan  and  as  a  denial  of  the  essence  of 
Christianity,  he  also  in  like  manner  combated  ener- 
getically the  tendency  to  worldly  living.  He  became 
Ecciesiat  *ne  father  °f  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy  and  the  patron 
Ortho-      of   ecclesiastical   monasticism:  He   taught    nothing 

doxy. 

neiv,  new  only  was  the  doing,  the  energy  and  exclu- 
siveness  of  his  conceptions  and  actions  at  a  time 
when  everything  threatened  to  dissolve.  He  was 
also  not  a  scientific  theologian  in  the  strict  sense,  but 
he  descended  from  theology  to  piety  and  found  the 
fitting  word.  He  honored  science,  even  that  of  Ori- 
gen,  but  he  went  beyond  the  intelligent  thought  of 
his  time.  While  acknowledging  its  premises,  he 
added  to  them  a  new  element  which  speculation  has 
never  been  able  fully  to  resolve.  Nothing  was  here 
more  unintelligible  to  the  thought  of  the  day  than 
the  assumption  of  the  essential  oneness  of  the  change- 
less and  of  the  working  Divinity.  Athanasius  fixed 
^eludes  a  gUif  between  the  Logos,  of  which  the  philosophers 
Logo!  thought,  and  the  Logos,  whose  redeeming  power  he 
proclaimed.  That  which  he  expressed  concerning 
the  latter,  while  announcing  the  mystery  emphat- 
ically and  powerfully  and  in  no  way  indulging  him- 
self in  new  distinctions,  appeared  to  the  Greeks  an 
offence  and  foolishness.     But  he  did  not  shun  this 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     201 

reproach,  rather  did  he  circumscribe  for  the  Chris- 
tian faith  within  the  already  given  speculation  its 
own  territory,  and  thus  did  he  find  the  way  to  ward 
off  the  complete  hellenization  and  secularization  of 
Christianity. 


The  history  of  dogma  in  the  Orient  since  Nicsea  Tw0°Devei- 
shows  two  intermingled  courses  of  development.  In  opmen  s" 
the  first  place,  the  idea  of  the  God-man  became  defi- 
nitely defined  in  every  direction  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  redemption  of  the  human  race  unto  a 
divine  life — the  creed  of  Athanasius — (history  of 
dogma  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word).  Secondly, 
the  aim  was  to  determine  how  much  of  the  specu- 
lative system  of  Origen,  i.e.  of  the  'EMyvixy  -atdsla, 
would  be  endurable  in  the  churches ;  in  other  words, 
in  what  measure  the  Sacred  Scriptures  and  rule  of 
faith  would  bear  a  speculative  restatement  and  spirit- 
ualization.  The  treatment  of  both  problems  was 
rendered  difficult  by  countless  conditions  (also  politi- 
cal ones),  but  above  ail  was  it  obscured  and  vitiated 
because  the  Church  was  never  allowed  to  concede  to 
itself  a  theological  handling  of  dogma,  and  because 
at  the  same  time  the  great  majority  of  Christians 
in  fact  denounced  every  effort  leading  to  new  forms 
as  an  apostasy  from  the  faith,  since  the  same  was 
an  innovation.  The  semblance  of  the  "semper 
idem"  must  ever  be  kept  up,  since  the  Church 
in  its  "  apostolic  inheritance  "  surely  possesses  every- 


202        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Theolo- 
gians Dis- 
credited 
by  Later 
Genera- 
tions. 


Conserva- 
tives 
Triumph. 


thing  fixed  and  final.  The  theology  and  the  theo- 
logians— even  the  best  of  them — came  thereby  dur- 
ing their  lifetime  and  after  their  death  into  the 
worst  predicament ;  during  life  they  were  considered 
innovators,  and  after  death,  when  the  dogma  had 
progressed  above  and  beyond  them,  they  came  often 
enough  wholly  into  discredit,  for  the  more  precisely 
perfected  dogma  now  became  the  standard  which 
was  applied  even  to  the  theologians  of  the  earliest 
times.  The  Church  found  rest  only  when  dogma- 
building  ceased  and  when  by  the  side  of  the  com- 
pleted dogma,  a  scholastico-mystical  theology  and  a 
harmless  antiquarian  science  succeeded  which  no 
longer  touched  the  dogma,  but  either  explained  it  as 
settled,  or  indifferently  laid  it  aside.  Thus  was 
gained  at  last  what  the  "  conservatives  "  had  always 
longed  for.  But  vital  piety  had  in  the  mean  time 
withdrawn  from  the  dogma  and  regarded  them  no 
longer  in  truth  as  the  sphere  in  which  it  lived,  as  its 
original  and  living  expression,  but  looked  upon  them 
as  the  sacred  inheritance  of  antiquity  and  as  the 
primary  condition  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  Christian 
benefits. 


Unification 
of 
Churches 
Impos- 
sible. 


Periods  of  the  History  of  Dogma  in  the  Orient. 

Constantine  made  possible  a  unity  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Church  into  dogma  (ecumenical  synods 
as  forum  publicum;  in  place  of  the  symbols  of  the 
provincial  churches  a  homogeneous  dogmatic  confes- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOOTRTNE   OF   INCARNATION.     203 

sion  was  introduced) ;  but  the  unification  of  the 
churches  in  the  strict  sense  never  became  perfect, 
and  the  tendenc}-  to  a  peculiar  individuality  of  the 
national  churches  grew  stronger  in  direct  contrast  to 
Byzantinism,  but  it  was  overcome  in  the  Occident, 
since  there  the  old  Roman  empire  took  refuge  in  the 
Roman  church.  While  the  East  crumbled  to  pieces 
and  Islam  finally  wholly  wrecked  the  creation  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  separating  Greeks  and  Semites, 
the  West  and  the  East  fell  more  and  more  apart. 
Yet  till  the  end  of  the  dogma-building  period  in  the 
East,  the  West  took  the  most  active  and  often  de- 
cisive interest  in  dogmatic  decisions. 

I.  Period  from  318-381   (383) :  Precisely  defining  orthodoxy 

v         '  u  "     Conquers. 

the  full  Divinity  of  the  Redeemer:  Athanasius, 
Constantine,  the  Cappadocians,  Theodosius.  Ortho- 
doxy conquers  through  the  firmness  of  Athanasius 
and  a  few  men  in  the  West,  through  the  course  of 
world-wide  historic  events  (sudden  end  of  Arius, 
Julian  and  Valens ;  appearance  in  the  East  of  Theo- 
dosius from  the  West)  and  through  the  ability  of  the 
Cappadocians  to  place  the  creed  of  Athanasius — not 
without  deductions,  to  be  sure — under  the  protection 
of  the  Origenistic  science. 

II.  Period  from  383-451 :     The  independent  theo-  Quarrel  be- 

tween 

logic  science   (EMyvurj  natdefa,  Origen)  was  already     AaVi!idl 
violently  combated;  the  ecclesiastical  leaders  aban-       aria" 
doned  it  and  threw  themselves  more  and  more  into 
the  arms  of  communal  and  monkish  orthodoxy.     The 
most  violent  quarrels,  behind  which  the  question  of 


204       OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Sedition 

and 
Schism. 


power  hides  itself,  arose  between  Antioch  and  Alex- 
andria over  the  Christological  dogma.  The  correct 
CEp£esusat  doctrine  conquered  at  Ephesus,  449 ;  but,  united  with 
the  tyranny  of  the  Alexandrian  patriarchs,  it  must 
needs  share  the  fate  of  the  latter  and  triumph  over 
emperor  and  state.  Nothing  was  left  to  the  em- 
peror but  to  proclaim  the  Occidental  creed  as  the 
orthodox  one  (the  Chalcedon),  which  at  first  was 
strange  to  the  Orient  and  seemed,  not  without  rea- 
son, to  be  heretical. 

III.  Period  from  451-553 :  Sedition  and  schism 
in  the  Orient  on  account  of  the  Chalcedon  addition ; 
monophysitism  is  exceedingly  energetic;  at  first  or- 
thodoxy was  at  a  loss.  But  speculative  Platonism 
had  exhausted  itself ;  in  its  place  had  come  even  in 
the  common  science  the  Aristotelian  dialectics  and 
scholasticism;  on  the  other  side  a  mysteriosophy 
which  knew  how  to  make  something  out  of  every 
formula  and  every  rite.  These  powers  succeeded  in 
interpreting  the  formula  that  was  forced  upon  them 
(Leoutius  of  Byzantium,  the  Areopagite) .  Justinian, 
rejecting  this  and  that,  codified  the  dogma  as  well  as 
the  law,  and  closed  not  only  the  school  of  Athens, 
but  also  those  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch.  Origen 
and  the  theologians  of  Antioch  were  condemned. 
Theological  science  remained  a  science  only  of  the 
second  order — scholasticism  and  the  cultus-mysti- 
cism,  these  indeed  in  their  fundamental  principle 
and  aim  heterodox,  were  outwardly  however  en- 
tirely correct.     The  Church  did  not  renew  the  agita- 


Justinian 
Codifies 
Dogma. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     205 

tion,  for  it  has  always  wished  peace,  and  piety  had 
long  since  thrown  itself  into  monasticism  and  the 
mysteries. 

IV.  Period  from  553-680 :  The  monotheletic  quar-  12g§£jf 
reis,  primarily  partly  after-play  partly  repetition  of 

the  old  strife,  were  born  not  of  conviction,  but  of 
politics.  Here  also  the  West  must  finally  come  to 
the  rescue  with  a  bloodless  formula. 

V.  Period  from  726-842:  In  truth  the  conflicts  of  image  con- 

troversy. 

this  period  (Image-contest)  show  already  that  the 
history  of  dogma  is  at  end ;  but  there  existed  still  a 
conflict  about  what  seemed  to  be  the  practical  issue 
of  the  history  of  dogma,  about  the  right  of  being 
allowed  to  perceive  and  venerate  in  a  thousand  sen- 
suous objects  the  deification,  the  unification  of  the 
heavenly  and  earthly.  Besides,  here  is  seen  plainly 
at  the  conclusion  what  seems  a  subordinate  factor 
in  the  whole  history  of  dogma,  but  is  not,  viz. :  The 
fight  between  the  state  (the  emperor)  and  the  Church  c/llgtate 
(the  bishops  and  monks)  for  supremacy,  in  respect 
to  which  the  formation  of  dogma  and  cultus  is  of  the 
highest  importance.  The  state  must  finally  abandon 
the  introduction  of  its  state-religion,  but  in  return 
for  this  concession  it  remains  the  victor  in  the  field. 
The  Church  retains  its  cultus  and  its  peculiar, 
practical  fructifying  of  the  dogma,  but  it  becomes 
definitely  dependent,  a  prop,  a  plaything,  in  certain 
ways,  indeed  also  the  palladium  of  the  state  and 
of  the  nation. 


206       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FUNDAMENTAL  CONCEPTION  OF  SALVATION 
AND  A  GENERAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  DOCTRINE  OF 
FAITH. 

Herrmann,  Gregorii  Nyss.  sententiae  de  salute  adipisc, 
1875.  Schultz,  Lehre  v.  d.  Gottheit  Christi,  1881.  Ritschi, 
Die  christl.  Lehre  v.  d.  Rechtfert.  und  Versöh.,  2.  Aufl. 
Bd.  I.  S.  3  ff. 

orthodox        i.  In  the  dogmatic  conflicts  from  the  4th  to  the 

Conception  ° 

Salvation.  ?th  centuiy,  it  is  clear  that  at  that  time  men 
were  contending  about  Christology  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  it  contains  the  essence  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Everything  else  was  asserted  only  in 
vague  expressions  and  on  that  account  had  not  the 
value  of  a  dogmatic  declaration  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  the  word.  Accordingly  for  orthodoxy  the  follow- 
ing fundamental  conception  of  salvation  obtained: 
The  salvation  offered  by  Christianity  consists  in  the 
redemption  of  the  human  race  from  a  condition  of 
perishableness  and  sin,  consequent  upon  it,  unto  a 
divine  life  (i.e.  on  the  one  side  deification,*  on  the 
other  blissful  enjoyment  of  God),  which  has  already 
taken  place  through  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God  and  which  accrues  to  humanity  by  reason  of  the 
indissoluble  union  with  him.  Christianity  is  that 
religion  which  frees  from  death  and  leads  men  to  a 
participation  in  the  Divine  life  and  essence,  per 
adoptionem.     Redemption,   therefore,   is  conceived 

*  See  page  199,  note. 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     207 


Redemp- 
tion 


ous 
Transfor- 
mation. 


as  the  abolition  of  the  natural  state  through  a  mi 
raculous  transformation  (deification  is  the  central  mKuIot 
thought) ;  the  religious  benefit  of  salvation  is  defi- 
nitely distinguished  from  the  moral,  and  the  idea  of 
atonement  accordingly  remains  rudimentary ;  for  the 
present  state  only  a  provisional  enjoyment  of  salva- 
tion is  presupposed  (calling,  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  salvation,  victory  over  the  demons,  helpful  com- 
munications from  God,  enjoyment  of  the  mysteries). 
Accordingly  the  fundamental  confession  is  that  of 
IrensBus :  "  We  become  divine  for  Christ's  sake,  since 
he  also  for  our  sakes  has  become  human".  This 
confession,  rightly  weighed,  demands  two  principal 
dogmas,  no  more  and  no  less :  "  Christ  is  #£<>s  ofioouctos, 
this  #£<)?  6[ioou<rio$  has  taken  human  nature  into  his 
own  being  and  fashioned  it  into  oneness  with  him- 
self". 

But  these  dogmas  were  carried  through  only  after 
severe  conflicts;  they  never  gained  a  perfectly  clear 
stamp  and  never  obtained  the  exclusive  dominion, 
which  they  demand.  The  reasons  for  this  are  as 
follows : 

(1)  The  formulas  which  were  required,  being  neiv, 
had  the  spirit  of  the  Church  against  them,  which 
suspected  even  the  best  of  innovations ; 

(2)  The  pure  exposition  of  faith  is  at  all  times  the 
most  difficult  problem ;  but  at  that  time  it  was  espe- 
cially hampered  by  apologetic,  as  well  as  by  other 
foreign  considerations ; 

(3)  The  orthodox  formulas  conflicted  with  every 


Dogmas 
Carried 

through 

after 
Struggles. 


208       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

philosophy;  they  proved  an  offence  to  disciplined 
scholastic  thinking ;  but  it  was  a  long  time  before 
men  recognized  in  the  incomprehensible  the  charac- 
teristics of  that  which  is  Holy  and  Divine ; 

(4)  The  conception  of  the  salvation  obtained 
through  the  God-man  was  joined  to  the  scheme  of 
"natural  theology  "  (moralism),  i.e.  grafted  upon  it; 
natural  theology  endeavored  thenceforth  to  build 
upon  the  dogma  and  to  bring  itself  into  conformity 
with  it; 

(5)  The  mystical  doctrine  of  salvation  and  its  new 
formulas  had  not  only  no  Scriptural  authority  in 
their  favor,  but  conflicted  also  with  the  evangelical 
idea  of  Jesus  Christ;  New  Testament  ideas  and 
reminiscences,  Biblical  theologomena  in  general  of 
the  most  varied  kind,  have  always  surged  about  the 
growing  and  matured  dogma  and  prevented  their 
exclusive  domination ; 

(G)  The  peculiar  form  of  the  Occidental  Christology 
interfered  as  a  disturbing  element  with  the  Oriental 
history  of  dogma.  Thrown  upon  its  own  resources, 
the  Orient  would  have  been  obliged  to  legitimize 
monophysitism ;  the  Gospel,  the  Occident  and  the 
emperors  prevented  it  from  doing  so.  An  incorrect 
formula  triumphed,  but  it  received  a  correct  inter- 
pretation ;  vice  versa,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, the  correct  formula  of  Athanasius  triumphed, 
but  under  an  interpretation  which  was  influenced  by 
the  secular  science  of  the  Cappadocians.  Each  re- 
sult had  the  historical  consequence  that  the  orthodox 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.     209 

Church  remained  in  contact  with  Biblical  theology 
and  with  science  (scholasticism). 

2.  Since  the  doctrine  of  salvation  was  kept  strictly  ^^Jfjf 


within  the  scheme  of  the  mystico-realistic  idea  of 


as  Related 

to 
Morality. 


redemption,  it  was  in  itself  indifferent  to  the  moral ; 
but  on  every  side  men  were  sure  that  Christianity 
also  embraced  the  highest  morality.  Accordingly 
the  benefits  of  salvation  were  adjudged  only  to  mor- 
ally good  men,  but  the  morally  good  conceived  as 
the  product  of  the  free  agency  of  man  and  as  the 
condition  of  sanctification  to  be  fulfilled  by  him, 
whereby  God  at  the  most  was  conceived  of  as  assist- 
ing (this  concerns  positive  morality;  the  negative, 
asceticism,  was  regarded  as  the  direct  preparation 
for  deification  *).  The  dogmatic  form  of  the  Chris-  ^1^™°* 
tian  religion  was,  therefore,  balanced  by  the  idea  of 
freedom  of  election  (See  already  Clem.  Alex.  Pro- 

trep.  1,  7:  ?o  eo  Z,7tv  edida^ev  £Tzt<pav£i$  a»?  dtddaxaXo?,  ha 
rd  del  0>  uarepov  w?  &ed<s  x°PrlTVffv)i  an(l  this  is  only  the 
shortest  expression  for  the  whole  natural  theology 
which  the  Church  appropriated  from  the  ancient  phi- 
losophy and  treated  as  the  self-evident  presupposition 
of  its  specific  doctrine,  reckoning  upon  a  general  un- 
derstanding of  the  same.  Consequently  Greek  Chris- 
tianity oscillates  between  two  poles,  which  are  simply 
co-ordinate  with  each  other.  Dogmas  in  a  strict 
sense  exist  only  within  the  doctrine  of  redemption ; 
on  the  other  hand,  there  exist  only  presuppositions 
and  conceptions  (so  far,  deviations  in  simple  mat- 

*See  page  190.  note. 
14 


210       OUTLINES   OF   THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Biblical 
Realism 
and  Ver- 
balism. 


Natural 
Theology. 


ters  are  here  not  insupportable).  But  since  the 
Greek  natural  philosophy  stood  in  conflict  in  not  a 
few  points  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  with  the  rule  of  faith  (as,  above  all, 
the  theology  of  Origen  proves),  problems  must  arise 
here  also,  which  in  an  increasing  measure  were 
solved  in  detail  in  favor  of  Biblical  realism  and 
Biblical  verbalism,  contrary  to  reason  and  an  idealis- 
tic view,  even  though  in  general  the  rationalistic- 
moral  scheme  remained  unscathed  (vid.  dogmatics  of 
John  of  Damascus;  Sophronius  of  Jerusalem:  #ew- 
?9a>//£v  tteiat?  ps-aßolais  xa\  ßißrjfremy) .  An  entirely  subor- 
dinate part  was  played  by  the  primitive  Christian 
eschatology  alongside  of  the  redemption-mysticism, 
rationalism  and  Biblicism;  gradually,  however,  it 
also  was  aided  by  Biblicism  (cf .  the  history  of  the 
Apocalypse  in  the  Greek  Church) ;  men  began  again 
to  add  apocalyptic  ideas  to  dogmatics,  which  how- 
ever remained  without  any  real  effect.  The  valua- 
ble part  also  of  the  old  eschatology,  the  expectation 
of  the  judgment,  never  played  the  part  in  Greek 
theology,  which  is  due  to  this  highly  important  rem- 
nant. In  spite  of  the  rejection  of  the  Origenistic 
eschatology  there  remained  in  Greek  dogmatics  a 
slight  trace  of  the  conception  of  history  as  an  evolu- 
tion. 

3.  As  a  result  of  this  examination  it  follows  that 
after  sifting  the  authorities  and  sources  of  informa- 
tion, (A)  that  one  has  to  treat  natural  theology  as  pre- 
supposing the  doctrine  of  redemption  ;  this,  however, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     211 

divides  itself  into  the  doctrine  of  God  and  the  doc-  ^j-'"" <if 

Redemp- 

trine  of  man.  Farther,  (B)  the  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion itself  must  be  treated  in  its  historic  development 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  and  Christology.  The 
conclusion  forms  (C)  the  doctrine  of  the  mysteries,  Doctrine  of 

x     '  J  '     Mysteries. 

in  which  already  in  this  life  the  coming  deification  * 
of  the  temporal  is  represented  and  can  be  enjoyed. 
To  this  should  be  added  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  the 
origin  of  the  orthodox  system. 

Note:  Only  through  Aristotelianism  did  the  Greek  A"£!i' 
Church  after  Origen  arrive  again  at  a  dogmatic  mascus. 
system,  which  was,  however,  by  no  means  a  uni- 
versal system  (John  of  Damascus).  A  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  Greek  dogma  is  therefore  to  be 
gained,  aside  from  the  acts  and  decisions  of  synods, 
(1)  from  the  numerous  works  on  the  incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God,  (2)  from  the  catechetical  writings, 
(3)  from  the  apologetic  treatises,  (4)  from  the  mono- 
graphs on  the  "  six  days'  work  "  and  similar  composi- 
tions as  well  as  from  the  exegetical  works,  (5)  from 
the  monographs  on  virginity,  monasticism,  perfec- 
tion, the  virtues  and  the  resurrection,  (0)  from 
monographs  on  the  mysteries,  cultus  and  priest- 
hood, (7)  from  sermons.  In  using  these  sources 
this  fact  with  others  is  to  be  considered,  that  the 
fathers  frequently  wrote  diaXsxruws,  and  that  the 
official  literature  (synod  literature)  in  an  increas- 
ing measure  bristles  with  falsifications  and  is  per- 
meated with  conscious  untruth  and  injustice. 

*Sec  page  199,  note. 


212        OUTLINES    OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


CHAPTER   III. 


Catholic 
Authori- 
ties. 


Holy 

Scriptures 

Unique 
Authority. 


THE  SOURCES  OF  KNOWLEDGE  AND  THE  AU- 
THORITIES, OR  SCRIPTURE,  TRADITION,  AND 
THE   CHURCH. 

See  the  Introductions  to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Jacobi,  Die  k.  L.  v.  d.  Tradition  u.  h.  Schrift.  1.  Abth. , 
1847.  Holtzmann,  Kanon  u.  Tradition,  1859.  Söder,  Der 
Begriff  d.  Katholicität  d.  K.,  1881.  Seeberg,  Studien  z. 
Gesch.  d.  Begriffs  d.  K. ,  1885.  Reuter,  Augustin.  Studien, 
1888. 

The  extent  and  value  of  the  Catholic  authorities 
was  already  essentially  established  at  the  beginning 
of  the  4th  century,  although  perhaps  not  their  mu- 
tual relation  and  the  manner  of  their  exposition. 
Underneath  the  great  contrast  between  the  more 
liberal  theology  and  pure  traditionalism  lay  also  a 
different  conception  of  the  authorities,  but  this  never 
found  a  statement.  Changes  took  place  during  the 
period  between  Eusebius  and  John  of  Damascus, 
keeping  pace  with  the  growing  traditionalism;  but 
no  one  undertook  to  make  an  inventory,  a  proof  that 
opponents  of  the  method,  worthy  of  notice,  failed  to 
palm  off  the  existing  state  of  the  Church  as  the  tra- 
ditional (apostolic).  The  sects  alone  protested  and 
continued  to  agitate. 

1.  The  Holy  Scriptures  had  a  unique  authority. 
To  depend  upon  them  alone  was  in  reality  not  un- 
catholic ;  Scripture-proof  one  might  always  demand. 
But  an  entirely  accepted  agreement,  even  respecting 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     213 

the  extent  of  the  Bible,  did  not  exist  (see  the  school 
of  Antioch  with  its  criticism  of  the  canon).  As 
regards  the  Old  Testament  the  Hebraic  canon  only 
was,  in  theory,  for  a  long  time  considered  the  stand- 
ard in  the  Orient ;  nevertheless,  in  practice,  the  writ- 
ings which  were  copied  with  the  LXX  had  value. 
Only  in  the  17  th  century  through  Roman  influence 
did  the  equalization  of  the  canonical  and  deutero- 
canonical  writings  take  place  in  the  Orient,  yet  not 
in  the  form  of  an  official  declaration.  In  the  Occi- 
dent the  uncritical  view  of  Augustine  gained  the  fiS" 
victory  over  the  critical  one  of  Jerome  (synods  at    Accepted 

TT«  rn  \i'-ii-ii  instead  of 

Hippo,  393,  and  Carthage,  397),  which  had  only  a  Jerome's, 
slight  after-effect.  Into  the  Alexandrian  canon, 
moreover,  were  also  introduced  apocalypses  like 
Hermas  and  Esra. — Regarding  the  New  Testament, 
Eusebius  made  rather  a  relative  end  to  a  highly  in- 
secure state  of  affairs.  With  the  three  categories 
which  he  adopted  one  could  not  content  oneself,  and 
the  early  decrees  of  provincial  churches  had  an  after- 
effect, especially  in  the  Orient.     Yet  after  the  mid-    Essential 

Agreement 

die  of  the  4th  century  there  prevailed  (save  in  the  ^yvjjj16 
Syrian  churches)  in  the  Orient  an  essential  agree-  CentUi-y- 
ment  in  regard  to  the  New  Testament.  Only  the 
Apocalypse  of  John  remained  still  for  a  long  time 
excluded;  slight  fluctuations  were  not  wanting. 
How  the  Occident  came  to  accept  the  Epistle  of 
James,  of  II.  Peter  and  III.  John  is  entirely  in  the 
dark.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  received 
through  the  celebrated  mediating-men  of  the  4th  cen- 


214        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

tury.  Augustine's  views  in  regard  to  the  extent  of 
the  New  Testament  has  been  the  authoritative  stand- 
ard for  the  whole  Occident  (see  also  the  so-called 
"  Docret.  Gelasii").  However,  an  ecclesiastical  judg- 
ment on  this  question,  excluding  every  doubt,  did 
not  take  place  until  the  Tridentine  council. 
Holy  All  predicates  concerning  the  Holy  Scriptures  dis- 

Scriptures 

Divine,  appeared  behind  that  of  their  divineness  (works  of  the 
Holy  Spirit);  inspiration  in  the  highest  sense  was 
now  restricted  to  them.  From  their  inspiration  came 
the  demand  for  spiritualistic  (allegorical)  exegesis, 
and  also  for  conforming  the  content  of  the  texts  to 
each  other  as  well  as  to  the  accepted  dogmatic  teach- 
ing. Yet  the  letter  should  also  be  holy  and  contain 
that  which  is  most  holy  (against  Origen);  laymen, 
eager  for  miracles,  and  critics  (Antiochians)  took 
sides  in  favor  of  the  letter  and  of  history.  A  safe 
method  was  wanting:  Opposing  views  were  the 
spiritual  exegesis  of  the  Alexandrians,  the  historico- 
critical  one  of  the  Antiochians  which  sought  for  a 
fixed  type,  the  literalistic,  realistic  one  of  barbarian 
monks  and  of  sturdy  theologians  (Epiphanius). 
Very  gradually  a  compromise  was  made  in  the 
Orient  in  regard  to  the  most  important  Scripture 
origenistic  passages  and  their  interpretations.     The  Origenistic, 

and 

Antiochian  an(j  stiH  more  the  Antiochian  exegesis  was  repressed 

?n  oHent    Du^  not  vanquished,  the  literalistic,  realistic  one, made 

palatable  through  mystic  fancies,  pushed  forward  (see 

John  of  Damascus,  and  his  interpretation  of  Gen. 

1-3.)      The   Occident  became  acquainted  with  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     215 

spiritual,  scientific  method  of  the  Cappadocians 
through  Hilary,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and  Rufinus. 
Before  and  afterward  there  was  a  complete  lack  of 
system;  regard  for  the  letter  went  hand  in  hand 
with  allegorical  fancies  and  chiliastic  interests. 
Jerome  was  too  cowardly  to  teach  his  contempo-  Au^Slne 
raries  the  better  view,  and  Augustine,  although  he 
learned  from  the  Greeks,  never  rose  above  the  latter 
and  did  not  even  reach  them.  He  introduced  into 
the  Occident  the  Scripture-theology  with  its  waver- 
ing three-  and  four-fold  sense,  and  above  all  the  strict 
Biblicism,  although  he  himself  knew  that  religious 
truth  is  an  inward  assurance  to  which  the  Scriptures 
can  only  lead,  and  that  there  exists  a  Christian  free- 
dom which  is  also  independent  of  the  Scriptures  {de 
doctrina  Christiana).     Through  Junilius  especially     jumiius 

Influences 

the  more  methodical  Antiochian  exegesis  exerted  an  West- 
influence  over  the  Occident,  without  being  able  to 
remedy  the  lack  of  method  and  the  tendency  to  apol- 
ogetic renderings  on  the  part  of  the  commentators. 
After-all  the  Scriptures  received  in  fact  a  position  in 
the  life  of  the  Church  in  the  Occident,  different  from 
their  position  in  the  Orient  (formerly  it  was  other- 
wise; see  e.g.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem);  they  occupied  a 
more  prominent  place.  This  is  to  be  explained  pri- 
marily from  the  influence  of  Augustine  and  from  the 
fact  that  ecclesiastical  dogmatics  in  the  Occident  was 
never  so  assertive  as  in  the  Orient.  Just  as  the  ex- 
tent of  the  Scriptures  was  never  securely  settled,  so 
also  their  properties  were  not.  The  predicate  of  iner- 


216        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Inerrancy ; 
Two  Testa- 
ments. 


Tradition. 


Faith  of 
Church. 


rancy  had  indeed  to  submit  to  gentle  restrictions  and 
men  did  not  really  come  to  a  clear  conception  of  the 
sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures.  In  regard  to  the  two 
Testaments  there  remained  the  same  want  of  clear- 
ness as  formerly  (the  O.  T.  is  a  Christian  book  as 
well  as  the  N.  T. — the  O.  T.  throughout  is  a  record 
of  the  prophecies — the  O.  T.  is  the  book  which  con- 
tains, with  certain  restrictions  and  under  definite  en- 
cumbrances, the  verities  of  the  faith,  and  it  has  led 
and  leads  pedagogical ly  to  Christ) . 

2.  Tradition.  Scripture  did  not  succeed  (at  least 
not  in  the  Orient)  in  ridding  itself  of  the  conditions 
under  which  it  originated,  and  in  becoming  a  fully 
independent  authorit}^.  The  Church,  its  doctrines 
and  institutions,  was  in  itself  the  source  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  guarantee  of  the  authority  of  the  truth. 
Everything  in  it  is  fundamentally  apostolic,  because 
it  is  of  apostolic  origin.  Hence  it  is  plain  why  the 
making  of  an  inventory  of  tradition  could  not  take 
place.  It  remained  de  facto  always  elastic;  what 
the  apostolic  Church  found  necessary  is  apostolic, 
therefore  ancient.  But  at  first  one  did  not  forego 
distinctions  and  proofs. 

Tradition  was  above  all  the  faith  of  the  Church. 
The  symbols  were  considered  apostolic;  yet  only  the 
Roman  church  proclaimed  its  creed  as  apostolic  in 
the  strictest  sense  (composed  by  the  apostles).  But 
the  content  of  the  Nicene  and  Chalcedon  creeds 
was  considered  as  apostolic,  yes,  as  the  legacy  of  the 
apostles  xaregoyTjv  and  as  the  quintessence  of  the  Holy 


DELELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     217 


Scriptures.  Yet  the  relation  between  Scripture  and 
symbols  remained  elastic.  In  the  Orient  the  so- 
called  Constantinopolitan  creed  became  the  chief 
symbol ;  in  the  Occident  the  apostles'  creed  held  the 
first  place  and  was  explained  according  to  the  former. 

But  the  regulations  also  of  the  organization  and  Pfciutftusnd 
cultus  were  placed  under  the  protection  of  apostolic  Apostohc- 
tradition,  and  one  pointed  as  proof  to  their  general 
spread  and  also  to  the  legends  concerning  the  apos- 
tles. Besides,  men  began  in  the  4th  century— not 
without  influence  from  the  side  of  Origen  and 
Clement — to  introduce  the  conceptions  of  an  apostolic 
TapddoGis  aypaipos,  in  the  wholly  uncertain  content  of 
which  they  even  included  dogmatic  teaching — how- 
ever, very  rarely  trinitarian  and  Christological  watch- 
words— the  understanding  of  which  was  not  every- 
body's concern  (thus  especially  the  Cappadocians). 
But  this  gnostic  conception  of  tradition  (secret  tradi- 
tion), although  it  became  more  and  more  settled,  was 
yet  felt  to  be  dangerous ;  use  was  made  of  it  in  dog- 
matic discussions  only  in  extreme  cases  (e.  g.,  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit),  and  it  was  otherwise 
applied  to  the  mysteries  and  their  ritual  expositions. 

Since  it  was  understood  that  the  decisive  authority 
was  vested  in  the  Church  itself  by  virtue  of  its  union 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  (Augustine:  "ego  evangelio 
noil  crederem,  nisi  me  catholicae  ecclesiae  co7nmo- 
ve7*et  auctoritas"),  the  questions  must  arise:  Through 

(1)  Through   whom   and   when   does  the  Church      Doe"1 

Church 
Speak?  Speak? 


Councils. 


218        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

IuonIa*  (^)  How  are  the  innovations  in  the  Church,  espe- 
cially within  the  realm  of  doctrine,  to  be  interpreted 
if  the  authority  of  the  Church  is  lodged  entirely  in 
its  apostolicity,  i.e.  in  its  permanence?  Both  ques- 
tions, however,  were  never  distinctly  put,  and  there- 

Episco-  fore  only  very  vaguely  answered.  Fixed  was  it  that 
RchuercGhts  ^ne  representation  of  the  Church  was  vested  in  the 
episcopate  (see  Euseb.  H.  E.),  although  the  strict 
theory  of  Cyprian  had  not  at  all  become  common 
property  and  the  idea  had  never  cropped  out  that  the 
individual  bishop  is  infallible.  But  already  there 
was  attributed  a  certain  inspiration  to  the  provincial 
Ecu™fm"  synods.  Constantine  first  called  an  ecumenical  synod 
and  declared  its  decisions  to  be  without  error. 
Slowly  the  thought  of  the  infallible  authority  of  the 
Nicene  council  crept  in  during  the  4th  century  and 
was  later  on  transferred  to  the  following  councils, 
in  such  a  way,  however,  that  one  synod  (3d)  was 
stamped  post  factum  as  ecumenical,  and  the  dif- 
ference between  them  and  the  provincial  synods  re- 
mained for  a  long  time  unsettled  (Was  the  synod 
of  Aries  ecumenic?).  Through  Justinian  the  four 
councils  were  placed  upon  an  unapproachable  height, 
and  after  the  7th  council  the  principle  established 
itself  firmly  in  the  Orient,  that  the  sources  of  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  truth  are  the  Scriptures  and  the 
decrees  of  the  seven  ecumenical  councils.  Even  to- 
day men  assume  frequently  in  the  Orient  an  air  as 
if  the  Church  did  not  possess  or  need  any  other,  s 
But  this  apparently  simple  and  consistent  develop- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     219 


ment  solved  by  no  means  ail  the  difficulties,  because 
councils  were  not  always  at  hand  and  other  author- 
ities also  had  still  to  be  taken  into  account.  How 
should  one  act  if  the  Church  has  not  yet  spoken? 
Does  not  an  especial  authority  belong  to  the  occu- 
pants of  the  great  apostolic  episcopal  chairs,  or  to 
the  bishops  of  the  capitals? 

Ans.  1.  The  Church  also  speaks  through  unan- 
imous ancient  testimonies.  The  citing  of  the 
"  fathers  "  is  important,  even  decisive.  Whatever 
has  universality  and  antiquity  is  true.  Besides,  the 
conception  of  "  antiquity "  grew  ever  more  elastic. 
Originally  the  disciples  of  the  apostles  were  the 
"ancients",  then  they  counted  also  the  3d  and  4th 
generations  among  the  "ancients",  then  Origen  and 
his  disciples  were  the  "ancient"  expounders;  finally 
the  whole  ante-Constantine  epoch  was  considered 
classic  antiquity.  But  since  one  could  make  use  of 
rather  little  from  this  period,  appeal  was  taken  to 
Athanasius  and  the  fathers  of  the  4th  century,  just 
as  to  the  "  ancients",  and  at  the  same  time  to  numer- 
ous falsifications  under  the  name  of  the  fathers  of 
the  2d  and  3d  centuries.  At  the  councils  one  counted 
more  and  more  only  the  voices  of  the  "  ancients  "  and 
employed  very  general  explanations  to  confirm  the 
new  formulas  and  watchwords.  Things  came  thus 
to  be  decided  more  and  more  according  to  authori- 
ties, which  one  indeed  frequently  first  created.  The 
council  was  therefore  infallible,  only  and  in  so  far 
as  it  did  not  teach  anything  else  but  the  "fathers". 


How  Act 

when 
Church 
has  not 
Spoken? 


220        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Does 

Special 

Authority 

Belong  to 

Apostolic 

Chairs? 


Chairs  of 
Capitals. 


The  infallibility  was  therefore  primarily  not  a  direct 
one. 

Ans.  2.  Augustine  recalled  to  mind  the  especial 
authority  of  the  apostolic  chairs  (also  the  Oriental) 
on  the  question  concerning  the  extent  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  But  in  the  Orient  this  authority  was 
merged  in  that  of  the  chairs  of  the  capitals  and 
therefore  Constantinople  moved  to  the  front,  being 
strongly  attacked  by  the  Roman  bishop.  The  Roman 
chair  alone  was  able  not  only  to  preserve  its  ancient 
authority  in  the  Occident,  but  also  to  heighten  it 
(only  apostolic  chair  in  the  Occident,  Peter  and  Paul, 
fall  of  the  "West-Roman  empire,  the  centre  for  the 
remnant  of  Romanism  in  the  West)  and  (thanks  to 
the  favorable  circumstances  of  political  and  ecclesi- 
astical history)  to  fortify  the  same  also  in  the  Orient, 
under  great  fluctuation  to  be  sure.  To  the  Roman 
bishop  was  always  attached  an  authority  peculiar  in 
kind,  without  its  being  possible  to  define  the  same 
more  closely.  It  only  ceased  in  the  Orient,  when 
Orient  and  Occident  possessed  nothing  more  what- 
ever in  common.  But  before  the  same  became  ex- 
tinct the  Roman  bishop,  in  league  with  the  eastern 
Roman  emperor,  had  gained  the  point  that  in  the 
Orient  attempts  at  a  primacy  of  any  bishop,  espe- 
cially the  Alexandrian,  should  be  suppressed,  to 
which  suppression  the  Christological  contests  contrib- 
uted. The  great  chairs  of  the  patriarchs  in  the 
Orient,  weakened  through  schisms,  partially  deprived 
of  their  real  importance,  stood  in  theory  in   equal 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     221 


positions  toward  one  another.  Their  occupants  also 
represented  in  their  co-operations  a  kind  of  dogmatic 
authority,  which  however  was  defined  neither  in 
itself,  nor  in  its  relation  to  the  ecumenical  councils. 
They  form  simply  a  relique  of  antiquity. 

From  statements  made  it  follows,  that  the  ability 
to  transmit  new  revelations  to  the  Church  did  not 
belong  to  the  councils ;  rather  are  the  same  rendered 
legitimate  through  the  preservation  of  the  apostolic 
legacy.  Therefore  did  the  declaration  and  adoption 
of  new  formulas  (of  the  6fioo6ffto$,  of  the  oneness  of 
the  trinity,  of  the  two  natures,  and  so  on)  cause 
such  great  difficulties.  When  at  last  the  Nicene 
doctrine  gained  the  victory,  it  was  accomplished  only 
because  the  Nicene  creed  itself  had  become  a  piece 
of  antiquity  and  because  one  endeavored,  poorly 
enough,  to  deduce  from  the  Nicene  all  later  formulas 
by  giving  out  (as  Irenseus  had  once  done)  as  pre- 
scribed, together  with  the  text,  also  a  definite  expo- 
sition of  the  same.  The  ability  of  the  councils  even 
to  explain  the  doctrines  authentically  had  not  been 
clearly  declared  in  the  Orient;  therefore  the  excuse 
has  only  seldom  been  made  for  the  earlier  eastern 
fathers,  that  at  their  time  the  dogma  had  not  been 
explained  and  definitely  formulated.  Whereas  a 
western  man  (Vincent  of  Lerinum,)  in  his  Com- 
monitorinm,  after  having  asserted  the  criteria  of 
the  true  tradition  (that  which  has  been  believed 
everywhere,  alwaj^s  and  by  all),  and  after  having 
warned  men  against  the  heresies  of  otherwise  ortho- 


Councils 
Not  Au- 
thorita- 
tive. 


Apostolic 
Legacy. 


Vincent   of 
Lerinum ; 
Organic 

TYo^rcss  in 
Doctrine. 


222        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

dox  fathers,  admitted  an  "  organic  "  progress  in  doc- 
trine (from  the  more  uncertain  to  the  more  certain) 
and  proclaimed  the  councils  as  agents  in  this 
progress  ("  excitata  hcereticorum  novitatibus"). 
Augustine  expressly  taught,  that  so  long  as  unequiv- 
ocal decisions  on  a  question  had  not  been  given,  the 
bond  of  union  between  dissenting  bishops  should  be 
maintained.  The  Eoman  bishop  has  always  acted 
according  to  this  rule,  but  has  reserved  for  himself 
the  decisions  and  the  time  for  the  same. 
Tradition  The  conception  of  tradition  is  therefore  entirely 
\ague.  vagUe  The  hierarchical  element  does  not  play  in 
theory  the  first  part.  The  apostolic  succession  has 
even  in  the  Occident  not  been  in  theory  of  such  great 
importance  for  the  confirming  of  tradition.  At  the 
councils,  since  the  time  they  were  called,  the  author- 
ity of  the  bishops  as  bearers  of  tradition  was  ex- 
hausted. Still,  perhaps  that  is  saying  too  much. 
Everything  was  very  obscure.  But  in  so  far  as  the 
Greek  Church  has  not  changed  since  John  of  Damas- 
cus, the  Greek  even  at  the  present  time  has  a  per- 
fectly definite  consciousness  of  the  foundation  of 
religion.  By  the  side  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
foundation  of  religion  is  the  Church  itself,  not  as  liv- 
ing power,  but  in  its  immovable  doctrines  and  time- 
honored  orders.  The  Scriptures  also  are  to  be  ex- 
plained according  to  tradition.  But  the  tradition  is 
primarily  always  two-fold, — the  public  one  of  the 
councils  and  fathers,  and  the  secret  one  which  con- 
firms the  mysteries,  their  ritual  and  its  interpretation. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     223 

3.  The  Church.  As  guarantee  of  the  true  faith,  church 
and  administrator  of  the  mysteries,  the  Church  above  °FaTth  e 
all  came  into  consideration.  Furthermore,  men  re- 
flected about  it  when  they  thought  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  false  church  of  the  Jews,  of  heresy  and  the 
organization  of  Christianity,  as  also  of  the  presump- 
tion of  the  Roman  bishop  (Christ  alone  is  the  head 
of  the  Church).  Again,  the  Church  was  represented 
in  catechetical  instruction  as  the  communion  of  the 
true  faith  and  virtue,  outside  of  which  there  could 
not  easily  be  a  wise  and  pious  person,  and  the  Bibli- 
cal declaration  regarding  it  was  that  it  was  the  only 
and  holy  one,  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  Catholic 
in  opposition  to  the  numerous  impious  unions  of  the 
heretics.  Very  evidently  men  identified  thereby  the 
empirical  church  with  the  Church  of  the  faith  and  SHanci 

Church  of 

Faith 
Identified. 


virtue,  without,  however,  coming  to  a  closer  reflec-    "  Faith 


tion  on  corpus  verum  et  permixtum  and  without 
drawing  all  the  consequences  which  the  identification 
demanded.  In  spite  of  all  this  the  Church  was  not 
primarily  a  dogmatic  conception,  belonging  to  the 
department  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  itself;  or  it 
became  so  only  when  men  thought  of  it  as  the  insti- 
tution of  mysteries,  from  which,  moreover,  the  monk 
was  permitted  to  emancipate  himself.  Through  the 
restrictions  under  which  the  Greeks  viewed  the  duties 
of  the  Church  and  through  the  natural  theology, 
is  this  disregard  to  be  explained.  The  Church  is 
the  human  race  as  the  totality  of  all  individuals  who 
accept  salvation.    The  doctrine  of  salvation  exhausted 


224        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


itself  in  the  conceptions :  God,  humanity,  Christ,  the 
Did1IaaofC  naysteries,  the  individual.  The  conception  of  the 
Not  irSed  Church  as  the  mother  of  believers,  as  a  divine  crea- 
tion, as  the  body  of  Christ  was  not  worked  out  dog- 
matically. The  mystical  doctrine  of  redemption  also 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  eucharist  did  not  assist  the 
Church  to  a  dogmatic  position  (it  is  wanting,  for  ex- 
ample, in  John  of  Damascus).  Its  organization, 
thorough  as  it  is,  was  not  perfected  beyond  the  grade 
of  bishops  and  was  seldom  treated  dogmatically.  The 
Church  is  not  the  bequest  of  the  apostles,  but  of 
Christ ;  therefore  its  importance  as  an  institution  of 
worship  takes  the  first  rank. 

All  this  has  reference  to  the  Oriental  Church.  In 
the  Occident,  through  the  Donatist  contest,  the 
foundation  was  laid  by  the  Church  for  new  and  rich 
conceptions.  The  Church  itself  was  at  the  end  of 
the  early  period  divided  into  three  great  parts :  The 
western  Church,  the  Byzantine,  the  Semitic  eastern ; 
and  the  latter  was  cleft  into  manifold  parts.  Each 
part  considered  itself  the  one  Catholic  Church  and 
extolled  its  particular  palladia. 


Western 
Church 
Idea  De- 
veloping. 


A.     THE    PRESUPPOSITIONS    OF    THE    DOCTRINE 
OF    SALVATION,    OR    NATURAL    THEOLOGY. 


Natural 
Theology. 


Natural  theology  with  all  the  fathers  was  essen- 
tially the  same  thing ;  but  it  shows  shades  according 
as  Platonism  or  Aristotelianism  predominated  and  ac- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     225 

cording  to  the  measure  in  which  the  letter  of  the 
Bible  exerted  an  influence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    PRESUPPOSITIONS    AND    CONCEPTIONS   OF  GOD, 
THE   CREATOR,    AS   DISPENSER   OF   SALVATION. 

The  main  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  God,  as  the  Doctrine  of 

1  r  '  God. 

apologists  and  anti-gnostic  fathers  had  established 
them,  remained  firm  and  were  directed  particularly 
against  Manichseism,  but  were  hardly  touched  by  the 
development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  since  the 
Father  as  ßiZi)  t7^  {teoTqros  alone  came  into  considera- 
tion here.  Yet  with  the  growing  Biblicism  and  the 
monkish  barbarism,  anthropomorphic  conceptions 
forced  themselves  more  and  more  into  theology. 
Concerning  the  question  of  man's  ability  to  know 
God,  Aristotelians  (Eunomius,  Diodorus  of  Tarsus, 
especially  since  the  beginning  of  the  6th  century)  and 
Platonists  contended  with  each  other,  and  yet  were 
fundamentally  agreed.  That  man  knows  God  only  KJ^^le" 
through  revelation,  more  exactly  through  Christ,  was 
generally  allowed,  but  to  this  declaration  as  a  rule 
no  further  consequences  were  given  and  men  as- 
cended from  the  world  to  God,  making  use  of  the 
old  proofs  and  supplementing  them  with  the  ontolog- 
ical  argument  (Augustine).  Neo-Platonic  theolo- 
gians assumed  an  immediate,  intuitive  perception  of 

God  of  the  highest  order,  but  they  nevertheless  per- 
15 


226        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Negative 
Attributes 
Empha- 
sized. 


Moral  At- 
tributes. 


Cosmology 
of  Fathers. 


fected  very  precisely  the  scholastic  form  of  this 
knowledge  (the  Areopagite:  Negation,  exaltation, 
causality). 

The  loftiest  expression  for  the  being  of  God  was 
as  yet  that  he  is  "not- the- world",  the  spiritual, 
immortal,  apathetic  Substance  (the  v0>),  to  which 
alone  real  being  belongs  (Aristotelians  thought  of 
cause  and  purpose,  without  correcting  radically 
the  Platonic  scheme).  His  goodness  is  perfection, 
unenviousness  and  creating  will  (additions  leading 
to  a  better  conception  by  Augustine:  God  as  love, 
which  frees  men  from  self-seeking).  The  attributes 
of  God  were  treated  accordingly  as  expressions  of 
causality  and  power,  in  which  the  purpose  of  salva- 
tion was  not  taken  into  account  (Origen's  conception 
became  tempered,  i.e.  corrected).  By  the  side  of  the 
naturalistic  conception  of  God  as  the  v0v  stood  the 
moralistic  one  of  Re  warder  and  Judge;  upon  this 
also  the  idea  of  redemption  had  hardly  any  notice- 
able influence  (less  than  with  Origen),  since  "re- 
ward "  and  "  punishment "  were  treated  as  one.  Yet 
Augustine  recognized  the  worthlessness  of  a  theol- 
ogy which  places  God  only  at  the  beginning  and  the 
end  and  makes  men  independent  of  him,  instead  of 
acknowledging  God  as  the  Power  for  good  and  the 
Source  of  the  personal,  blessed  life. 

The  cosmology  of  the  fathers  may  be  thus  stated : 
God,  who  has  carried  in  himself  the  world-idea  from 
eternity,  has  through  the  Logos,  which  embraces  all 
ideas,  in  free  self-determination  created  in  six  days 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     227 

out  of  nothing  this  world,  which  has  had  a  beginning 
and  will  have  an  end ;  it  was  created  after  the  pat- 
tern of  an  upper  world,  which  was  brought  forth  by 
him,  and  has  its  culmination  in  man  in  order  to 
prove  his  own  kindness  and  to  permit  creatures  to 
participate  in  his  bliss.  In  this  thesis  the  heresies 
of  Origen  were  set  aside  (especially  his  pessimism). 
Still  men  did  not  succeed  in  entirely  justifying  the 
verbal  meaning  of  Gen.  1-3,  and  in  the  representa-  Gen  tui- 
tion of  an  upper  world  (xöffßog  voep6s)\  whose  lesser 
copy  the  earthly  is,  there  remained  a  significant 
piece  of  the  Neo-Platonic-Origenistic  doctrine,  which 
was  then  greatly  amplified,  after  the  Areopagite,  by 
the  Platonizing  mystics.  But  the  pantheistic  here- 
sies were  scarcely  felt  thereafter,  if  only  in  some 
way  the  verbal  meaning  of  Gen.  1-3  seemed  to  be 
preserved.  The  theodicy — still  always  necessary  on  Theodicy, 
account  of  Manichseism  and  fatalism — sought  to  hold 
its  ground  through  empirical  considerations,  but 
since  it  too  must  be  natural  theology  it  revealed  its 
ancient  root  in  an  oft-estranging  casuistry  and  in 
doubtful  claims.  Men  referred  to  the  necessity  and 
fitness  of  the  freedom  of  the  creature  which  must 
have  as  a  consequence  wickedness  and  evil,  to  the 
harmlessness  of  evil  for  the  soul,  to  the  unreality  of 
wickedness  and  to  the  value  of  evil  as  a  means  of 
purification. 

In  regard  to  the  heavenly  spirits  the  following  D^^°t 
points  were  settled :  That  they  were  created  by  God, 
that  they  are  free   and  lack  material  bodies,  that 


228        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

they  have  passed  through  a  crisis  in  which  a  part 
have  fallen,  that  God  uses  the  good  spirits  as  instru- 
ments in  governing  the  world,  that  the  existence  of 
wickedness  in  the  world  is  to  be  traced  back  to  the 
wicked  spirits,  whom  God  allows  to  have  their  way 
and  who  are  incorrigible  and  have  almost  unlimited 
power  over  the  world  which  only  the  cross  can  break 
and  who  are  going  to  receive  damnation  (against 
Origen).  After  the  4th  century,  however,  the  poly- 
theistic tendency  became  stronger  and  stronger 
toward  angels  and  demons,  and  already  by  about  400 
A.  D.  the  piety  of  monks  and  laymen  was  nourished 
more  by  these  than  by  God.  While  the  synod  of 
Laodicea  about  360  declared  angel- worshijD  to  be  idol- 
ofeDALgeil\  atry,  still  the  veneration  of  angels  became  more  firmly 
established  (guardian-angels,  faith  in  their  interces- 
sion) and  was  ecclesiastically  fixed  at  the  7th  council, 
787  (7zpoffy.ovr)<ns) .  It  contributed  much  toward  this, 
that  the  "  scientific  "  theology  in  the  form  of  the  Neo- 
Platonic  mysticism,  after  about  500,  increased  the  ^/ 
esteem  given  to  angels,  and  that  they  were  received 
into  the  system  as  most  important  factors  (but  see 
already  the  Alexandrian  theologians)  :  The  angels  in 
graded  ranks  are,  on  the  one  side,  the  unfolding  of 
the  heavenly,  on  the  other,  the  mediators  between 
the  heavenly  and  men.  To  the  earthly  hierarchy  with 
its  grades,  agencies  and  consecrations,  corresponds  a 
heavenly,  graded  hierarchy  with  heavenly  sacrifices, 
intercessions,  etc. ;  in  divine  worship  both  unite 
(vid.  the   Areopagite  and  his   expounders).     Thus 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     22!» 

arose — truly  after  long  preparation — a  new  ecclesi-    Ec*-^as" 
astical  theosophy  which  was  purely  pagan  and  which  TheosoPh; 
was  finally  a  shamefaced  expression  for  jugglering 
the  idea  of  creation  and  redemption  and  for  reviving 
the  fantastic  pantheism  which  the  bizarre  theosophy 
of  perishing  antiquity  had  created :  Everything  that 
exists  streams  out  from  God  in  manifold  radiations 
and  must,  since  it  is  remote  and  isolated,  be  purifi 
and  returned  to  God.     This  has  taken  place  in  nec- 
essary processes  which  were  so  represented  that  all 
needs,  even  the  most  barbaric,  were  taken  into  con- 
sideration, and  all  authorities   and  forms  were  re- 
spected.    But  the  living  God,  besides  whom  the  soul 
possesses  nothing,  threatened  thereby  to  disappear. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    PRESUPPOSITIONS    AND    CONCEPTIONS    OF    MAN 
AS   THE   RECIPIENT    OF   SALVATION. 

The  common  conviction  of  the  orthodox   fathers  Doctrine  of 

Man. 

may  be  stated  somewhat  as  follows:  Man,  created 
after  the  image  of  God,  is  a  free  self-determining 
being.  He  has  been  endowed  with  reason,  in  order 
to  decide  in  favor  of  the  good  and  to  enjoy  immortal 
life.  Having  indulged  himself  and  still  ever  in- 
dulging himself  in  sin,  misled,  or  of  his  own  free 
will,  he  has  missed  this  destination  without,  how- 
ever, having  forfeited  the  privilege  and  power  of  a 
virtuous    life  and    the    capability  of    immortality. 


230        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Points 
under 
Considera- 
tion. 


Idea  of 

Natural 

Freedom 

Central. 


Through  the  Christian  revelation,  which  comes  to 
the  aid  of  the  darkened  reason  with  full  knowledge 
of  God,  that  ability  has  been  strengthened  and  the 
immortality  restored  and  proffered.  Upon  good  or 
evil  therefore  the  judgment  decides.  The  will  has, 
strictly  speaking,  no  moral  quality.  In  regard  to 
details  there  were  varying  opinions:  (1)  What  was 
the  original  inheritance  of  man,  and  what  his  desti- 
nation? (2)  How  far  does  nature  go,  and  where  does 
the  gift  of  grace  begin?  (3)  How  far-reaching  are 
the  consequences  of  sin?  (4)  Is  mere  freedom  char- 
acteristic of  the  being  of  man,  or  does  it  inhere  in 
his  nature  to  be  good?  (5)  Into  what  elements  is 
the  human  personality  to  be  divided?  (G)  In  what 
does  the  Divine  likeness  consist?  and  so  forth. 

The  various  answers  are  all  compromises ;  (a)  be- 
tween the  religious-scientific  theory  (doctrine  of  Ori- 
gen)  and  Gen.  1-3 ;  (b)  between  the  moralistic  con- 
siderations and  a  regard  for  the  redemption  through 
Christ;  (c)  between  dualism  and  the  recognition  of 
the  body  as  a  necessary  and  good  organ. 

1.  The  idea  of  inborn  freedom  is  central;  with  it 
reason  is  included.  It  constitutes  the  Divine  im- 
age, which  therefore  means  independence  as  regards 
God.  Whether  there  belongs  to  the  nature  of  man 
only  the  sensuousness  of  the  creature,  or  whether 
he  is  endowed  with  reason  and  even  immortality, 
remained  in  controversy.  However,  the  controversy 
was  quite  immaterial,  since  the  glorious  nature  of 
man  was  after  all  ever  considered  a  gift  of  grace, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     231 


and  this  gift  of  grace  was  considered  by  the  majority 
as  natural.  The  being  of  man  was  represented  as 
trichotomous,  by  others  as  dichotomous.  The  Greek- 
Origenistic  conception  of  the  body  as  a  prison  was 
finally  officially  rejected — man  is  rather,  even  as  a 
spiritual  being,  a  microcosm  and  the  body  is  also 
God-given  —  but  the  same  never  ceased  to  have 
an  after-effect,  because  the  positive  morality  was 
always  obliged  to  give  way  to  the  negative  (asceti- 
cism), i.e.,  because  it  received  in  the  conception  of 
the  opera  supererogatoria  an  ascetic  cast.  The 
later  Neo-Platonic  mysteriosophists,  indeed,  knew 
how  to  make  good  use  of  the  idea  of  the  glorification 
of  the  body,  but  in  truth  the  corporeal  was  still  con- 
sidered by  them  as  something  to  be  "absorbed,"  even 
though  they  no  longer  dared  to  shake  the  verbal  mean- 
ing of  the  formula  of  the  "resurrection  of  the  body". 

Concerning  the  origin  of  individual  souls  (the  soul 
is  no  part  of  God ;  but  in  reality  many  theosophists 
after  all  considered  it  as  such)  the  pre-existent  view 
of  Origen  was  expressly  condemned,  553,  but  the 
tradncian  theory  was  not  able  to  carry  the  day; 
rather  did  the  creation  theory  (continued  creation 
of  individual  souls)  become  dominant. 

As  regards  the  God-likeness,  men  still  continued 
in  the  antinomy,  that  goodness  and  purity  can  be 
the  product  only  of  human  freedom ;  that,  however, 
the  likeness  imprinted  by  creation  cannot  reside 
in  the  possibilitas  utriusque,  but  in  a  determina- 
tion of  reason  and  freedom,  and  that  it  has  in  part 


Greek- 

Origenistic 

Conception 

Rejected. 


Origin  of 
Souls. 


Original 
State  in 
Question. 


232        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

been  lost.  Accordingly  the  conceptions  also  regard- 
ing the  primitive  condition  of  man  were  as  hazy 
as  by  Irenseus.  On  the  one  side,  the  perfection  of 
man  was  said  to  have  been  practically  realized  at 
the  beginning  and  was  later  restored  by  Christ;  on 
the  other,  the  primitive  condition  was  said  to  have 
been  the  child-like  state  out  of  which  man  had  first 
to  develop  himself  unto  perfection  and  which  he 
therefore  in  reality  could  never  lose,  but  only  im- 
prove (thus  especially  and  emphatically  the  Antio- 
chians).  The  Cappadocians  still  taught  in  the  main 
much  like  Origen ;  but  later  men  were  forced  to  bind 
themselves  strictly  to  Genesis,  and  the  speculative 
conceptions  were  cultivated  as  much  as  the  rational- 
istic ones  of  the  Antiochians.  Doubts  about  the 
primitive  condition  of  man  resulted  in  indefinite  con- 
ceptions of  asceticism,  which  have  never  been  cleared 
up  in  the  Greek  Church :  Some  saw  in  asceticism 
the  natural  constitutional  condition  of  man,  others 
(especially  the  AnMochians)  conceived  of  it  as  some- 
thing superterrestrial  and  superhuman. 
Theories         2.  It  was  acknowledged  that  the  human  race  since 

Regarding  ° 

0rsiiin  °  i^s  origin,  i.e.  since  Adam  (express  rejection  in  the 
6th  century  of  the  doctrine  of  Origen  as  to  the 
fall  in  a  pre-existent  state),  has  turned  away  from 
the  good  (cause:  Not  a  created  sinful  power,  not 
matter,  not  the  Divinity,  not  inheritance  of  the  sin 
of  Adam — Adam  was  for  the  majority  the  type,  not 
the  progenitor  of  sinners, — but  abuse  of  freedom  by 
reason  of  demoniac  betrayal,  and  transmission   of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     233 

bad  customs.  Besides,  indeed,  with  the  majority  the 
unsubdued  thought  still  remained  in  the  background, 
that  the  inducement  to  turn  from  God  comes  with  a 
certain  necessity  from  the  sensuous  nature  and  the 
creature  infirmities  of  man ;  that  is,  from  a  conjoin- 
ing of  the  man  and  his  liability  to  death — be  it  nat- 
ural (the  Antiochians),  or  acquired  through  mis- 
takes, or  inherited.  One  finds,  therefore,  in  the  same 
fathers  the  contradictory  expressions,  that  goodness 
is  natural  to  man  and  that  sin  is  natural  to  him). 
Genesis  and  Rom.  5  forced  the  Greeks  more  and  G^ais 
more  to  give  to  the  fall  of  Adam,  against  their  em-  omau& 
pirico-rationalistic  theory,  a  world-historic  impor- 
tance. But  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  hereditary 
sin  they  have  not  accepted  during  all  the  cen- 
turies ;  they  have  even  declared  it  plainly  to  be  Mani- 
clueism.  Therefore,  since  they  were  prevented  from 
supporting  the  Origenistic  doctrine,  and  since  the 
Bible  forbade  the  consequent  rationalism  of  the 
Antiochian  theologians,  they  remained  involved  in 
nothing  but  uncertainties.  Most  of  them  proclaimed 
universal  mortality  (hereditary  death),  the  darken- 
ing of  knowledge  (therefore  polytheism)  and  a  cer- 
tain weakening  of  freedom  on  account  of  the  fall  of 
Adam,  enlarging  the  latter  even  to  almost  complete 
loss  of  freedom  when  they  thought  of  the  work  of 
Christ,  but  hardly  mentioning  it  when  they  wrote 
against  the  Manichseans.  But  since  they  never  in-  ^p0^i1t1.u, 
tended  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  moral  idea  of  sin 
the  religious,  and  since  the  philosophumenon,  evil  is 


234        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  non-being,  never  entirely  left  their  memory,  and 
since  they  always  felt  the  consequences  of  sin  more 
severely  than  sin  itself — to  which  consideration  their 
conception  of  the  work  of  Christ  also  led  them — they 
were  never  able  to  give  to  the  gravity  of  sin,  i.e.  to 
guilt,  a  satisfactory  expression :  Sin  is  a  bad  single 
deed ;  it  is  accident  and  again  fatality ;  it  is  the  con- 
sequence of  the  liability  to  death ;  but  it  is  not  the 
dreadful  power  which  destroys  union  with  God. 
Theology        The   influence  of   natural   theology   (and  of  the 

Dominates.  ..  -,.  -.  .  •    •  i  •        ,       •  ,\  •  • 

rationalism  and  mysticism  akin  to  it),  pre-eminent 
in  the  doctrine  of  God  and  man,  upon  the  actual 
dogmatic  teaching  was  fundamental : 
Redemp-         (i)  Man  is    led  through  redemption  to  that  des- 

tion    Natu-  v    '  °  r 

rahstic.     tination  which  he   can  also  reach  by  virtue  of  his 
freedom   (danger,  that  of  looking  upon  redemption 
merely  as  an  assistance) ; 
Related  to       ^  Man,  as  the  image  of  God,   an   independent 
ascreature  being  also  as  regards  God,  can  have  no  other  rela- 
tions  to  him  than  as  to  the  Creator  and  Judge ;  God 
himself  is  not  his  life,  but  the  law  of  God  is  his  rule 
of  conduct  (danger,  that  of  looking  upon  the  Gospel 
and  salvation  as  knowledge  and  law,  upon  punish- 
ment as  the  greatest  misfortune,  and  upon  repent- 
ance as  the  cause  of  pardon) ; 
DoCGode  °f       0*)  The  doctrines  also  regarding  God,  the  Redeem - 
R1z°d  a ~    er,  must  needs  be  treated  according  to  the  rationalis- 
tic scheme  (rationality  of  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity, 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  etc.) ; 
(4)  In  the  last  anal}Tsis  man  can  gather  nothing 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     235 

from  history;  but  to  history,  indeed,  belongs  the  cJ^^1 
X6yo<s  svaapxo? ;  the  view  therefore  was  not  entirely  re-  preciated- 
jected,  that  there  is  a  standpoint  from  which  the 
historical  Christ,  since  he  is  only  an  assisting 
teacher,  has  no  meaning :  Man,  who  through  gnosis 
and  asceticism  has  become  a  moral  hero,  stands  free 
by  the  side  of  God ;  he  loves  God  and  God  loves  him ; 
in  him  will  a  Christ  be  born.  The  most  vital  piety 
of  the  Greek  fathers  and  the  most  energetic  attempt 
to  make  themselves  at  home  in  religion,  have  even 
been  the  least  safeguard  against  their  losing  the 
historical  Christ.  Still  it  was  a  danger  which  only 
threatened.  Divinity  has  descended,  God  has  become 
man  in  the  historical  Jesus ;  faith  in  this  immense 
fact — "  the  newest  of  all  the  new,  yes,  the  only  new 
fact  under  the  sun  "  (John  of  Damascus) — as  well  as 
the  mystery  and  terror  of  death  restricted  all  ration- 
alism. Man  must  be  redeemed  and  has  been  re- 
deemed. 


B.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  REDEMPTION  THROUGH 
THE  PERSON  OF  THE  GOD-MAN  IN  ITS  HIS- 
TORICAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  NECESSITY  AND  REALITY 
OF  REDEMPTION  THROUGH  THE  INCARNATION 
OF  THE  SON  OF  GOD. 

The  incarnation  of  God  alone  balanced  the  whole    value ' 
system  of  natural  theology.     Because  men  believed 


Incarna- 
tion. 


336     outlines  of  the  history  of  dogma. 


Athana- 
sius1 
Theory  of 
Incarna- 
tion. 


Two 
Results 
Secuml. 


in  its  reality,  they  also  asserted  its  necessity.  They 
referred  it  to  death,  to  the  dominion  of  demons,  to 
sin  and  error,  and  not  seldom  in  this  connection  they 
made,  regarding  the  wickedness  of  man,  assertions 
which  recall  Augustine.  But  when  a  definite  theory 
was  given,  the  idea  of  the  abolition  of  perishableness 
and  of  the  sting  of  death  alone  held  out;  for  the 
doctrine  of  freedom  excluded  an  expiation  of  sin 
and,  on  the  other  side,  brought  home  the  thought 
that  heart- felt  repentance  before  God  frees  from  sin 
(thus,  e.g.  Athanasius,  de  incarn.  VII.) .  After  Ire- 
nseus,  Athanasius  first  propounded  a  definite  theory 
of  the  incarnation  (1.  c).  He  bases  it,  on  the  one 
hand,  upon  the  goodness  of  God,  i.e.,  upon  his  self- 
assertion  and  honor;  on  the  other,  upon  the  conse- 
quences of  sin,  i.e.  perishableness.  These  the  Logos 
only  is  able  to  remove,  who  also  originally  created 
everything  out  of  nothing.  Regarding  the  means, 
Athanasius  has  recourse  to  all  the  Biblical  concep- 
tions (sacrificial  death,  expiation  of  guilt,  etc.) ;  but 
he  only  carries  out  strictly  the  thought,  that  in  the 
act  of  incarnation  itself  lies  the  changing  from  the 
doom  of  death  to  atp&apoia,  in  so  far  as  the  physical 
union  of  the  human  with  the  Divine  (the  dwelling  of 
God  in  the  flesh)  elevates  humanity  into  the  sphere 
of  bliss  and  of  the  a<p$apaL<i.  The  consequence  of 
the  incarnation  is,  therefore,  primarily  a  transfor- 
mation into  the  imperishable  (renewal  of  the  Divine 
likeness),  but  secondarily  also  the  restoring  of  the 
knowledge  of  God,  in  so  far  as  the  earthly  appear- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     237 


ance  of  Divinity  (in  Christ)  makes  Divinity  recogniz- 
able to  the  dullest  eye  and  thereby  eradicates  poly- 
theism. Athanasius,  in  asserting  this  double  result, 
was  also  able  to  explain  the  particular  result  of  the 
incarnation :  Only  those  are  benefited  by  it  who 
know  God  and  who  regulate  their  lives  according  to 
this  knowledge.  The  apotheosis  of  human  nature 
(participation  in  God  through  son-ship)  and  not 
knowledge  was  to  Athanasius  the  main  point. 
Therefore  his  whole  concern  was  with  the  exact 
determining  of  the  question,  how  the  Divine  which 
became  man  was  constituted,  and  into  what  con- 
nections with  humanity  he  entered.  On  the  con- 
trary the  Arians  and,  later,  the  Antiochians  placed 
the  principal  stress  upon  the  knowledge ;  they  perse- 
vered in  the  rationalistic  scheme.  On  that  very  ac- 
count they  had  not  in  general  a  decided  interest  in 
the  two  questions,  and  when  they  had,  they  answered 
them  in  another  way.  It  is  plain  that  the  great 
dogmatic  contentions  have  their  root  herein :  Sub- 
stantial participation  in  God,  or  knowledge  of  him 
which  assists  freedom — Christ  the  Divinity,  or  the 
intelligent  Reason  of  the  world  and  the  Divine 
Teacher — Christ  the  inseparable  God-man,  or  the 
inspired  man  and  the  dual  Being.  Athanasius  had 
on  his  side  the  highest  Greek  piety,  his  opponents 
the  more  intelligible  formulas  and,  in  part,  the  letter 
of  the  Bible. 

No  other  Greek  father  has  answered  the  question    ^g  ™ 
why  God   became  man   so  clearly  as  Athanasius. 


Root  of 
Dogmatic 
Conten- 
tions. 


238       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

Gregory  of  Next  to  him  comes  the  Platonist,  Gregory  of  Nyssa 

Nyssa. 

(large  catechism) ,  since  in  general  the  whole  concep- 
tion of  doctrine  is  possible  only  upon  the  basis  of  Pla- 
tonism.  Gregory  at  some  points  strengthened  the 
deductions,  in  many  instances,  however,  he  followed 
Methodius.  In  contending  with  Jews  and  pagans 
he  shows  that  the  incarnation  is  the  best  form  of 
redemption;  he  conceives  the  whole  sinful  state  as 
death,  and  gives,  therefore,  to  this  conception  a  wider 
scope  (all  turning  away  from  God  to  the  non-exist- 
uo£aoniy  en*  sensuous  is  death) ;  he  viewed  the  incarnation  as 
compTished  fully  accomplished  first  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ 

in  Resur- 
rection.     (Origenistic    declaration:    Redemption    presupposes 

separation  from  the  body) ;  he  expressly  taught  that 
Christ  did  not  assume  the  nature  of  an  individual 
man,  but,  as  second  Adam,  human  nature  itself,  so 
that  according  to  this  mystic-Platonic  view,  every- 
thing human  has  blended  with  the  Divinity;  he con- 
rhannaco-  ceived  of  the  whole  strictly  as  a  physico-pharmacolog- 

Process.  ical  process :  Humanity  became  thoroughly  pene- 
trated by  the  leaven  of  Divinity  (the  counter- weight 
is  the  demand  for  the  spontaneous  fulfilling  of  the 
law) ;  he  brought  the  sacraments  into  the  closest  re- 
lation with  the  incarnation.     But,  finally,  he  gave  a 

E?ement!c  pantheistic  turn  to  this  realistic  and,  to  all  rational- 
ism, apparently  hostile  idea,  which  deprives  it  of  its 
peculiarity  and  is  quite  in  accord  with  a  rationalis- 
tic conception:  Christ's  incarnation  is  an  act  of 
cosmic  importance ;  it  reaches  as  reconciliation  and 
restitution  over  the  whole  world  from  the  highest 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     230 


Double 
Form  of 


angels  down  to  the  deepest  depths.  Thus  it  dis- 
solves, as  with  Origen,  into  a  necessary  cosmical 
process;  it  becomes  a  special  case  of  the  general 
omnipresence  of  the  Divine  in  creation.  In  the 
cosmos  the  alienation  from  God  is  set  forth  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  return  to  him.  Gregory  assisted 
in  transmitting  to  futurity  this  pantheistic  idea, 
which  he  himself  indeed  never  quite  clearly  thought 
out  so  as  to  separate  it  from  its  historical  conditions. 
The  pantheistic  doctrine  of  redemption  appears  in 
after  times  in  a  double  form  (pantheistic  monophy- 
sites,  the  Areopagite  and  his  disciples,  etc.)  :  Either  doctrine!0 
the  work  of  the  historical  Christ  appears  as  a  special 
instance,  i.e.  as  a  symbol  of  the  general  purifj'ing 
and  sanctifying  activity  which  the  Logos  in  common 
with  the  graded  orders  of  super-sensuous  creatures, 
and  at  the,  same  time  for  them,  continually  effects  by 
means  of  holy  agencies — or  instantly  with  the  thought 
of  the  incarnation  the  union  of  each  individual  soul 
with  the  Logos  is  conceived  of,  in  which  there  is 
repeated  what  occurred  in  regard  to  Christ.  A  third 
form  still  is  the  view,  that  the  humanity  of  Christ 
was  a  heavenly  one,  i.e.  that  the  Logos  always  car- 
ried humanity  within  itself.  Even  unconcealed  pan- 
theism (nature  as  a  whole  is  of  one  essence  with 
Divinity)  was  not  wanting. 

But  all  this  lay  only  in  the  background,  while  the 
thought  that  Christ  took  upon  himself  humanity  as 
generally  conceived  spread  in  the  East  and  West,  and 
destroyed  the  idea  of  a  moral  union  of  the  Divinity 


Redemp- 
tion Re- 
ferred to 
Sin  and 
Death. 


240        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

with  an  individual  man,  from  which,  of  course,  the 
certainty  of  our  participation  in  God  cannot  be  in- 
ferred. Those  who  taught  this  moral  union  (Anti- 
ochians)  ordinarily  conceived  redemption,  not  as  a 
restitution,  the  necessity  of  which  they  did  not  exactly 
feel,  but  as  a  leading  up  to  a  new  state,  as  the  close  of 
the  Divine  pedagogy.  Whereas  the  theologians  fol- 
lowing Athanasius  and  Gregory  always  conceived  of 
the  incarnation  as  a  necessary  restitution  and  referred 
it  therefore  to  sin  and  death.  Accordingly  they  firm- 
ly maintained,  so  far  as  they  were  not  misled  by  pan- 
theism, that  the  incarnation  was  an  historical  deed 
of  unfathomable  Divine  compassion,  by  means  of 
which  humanity  has  been  restored  to  Divine  life, 
mentof  Supplement.  Men  attempted  to  fit  the  facts  of  the 
Jesus'  Life  history  of  Jesus  into  the  work  of  redemption,  which 

to  Redemp- 
tion      indeed  was  a  success  as  regards  the  resurrection,  but 

Theory.  °  ' 

not  wholly  so  in  any  other  single  point.  The  death 
on  the  cross  remained  in  particular  unintelligible, 
although  Pauline  points  of  view  were  continually 
repeated;  for  by  the  incarnation  everything  had 
really  been  given  and  death  could  at  the  most  be  but 
the  conclusion  of  the  "  becoming  flesh  "  (the  sacrifi- 
cial view  moreover  has  seldom  since  Origen  been  far- 
ther fertilized  according  to  the  scheme  of  the  Greek 
mysteries).  Nevertheless  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  death  was  considered  a  blissful  mystery,  before 
which  one  should  bow  down,  and  it  is  after  all  a 
question  whether  the  dogmatic  reticence  here  of  the 
Greeks  is  less  worthy  in  contrast  with  the  bold  reckon- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     241 

ing  and  bargaining  of  the  Occidental  theologians. 
The  latter  since  Tertullian  and  Cyprian  have  ever  estapfa§atic> 
considered  the  endurance  of  death  as  a  service,  the  Dei' 
value  of  which  should  be  appraised  in  juristic  formu- 
las; they  have  looked  upon  death  as  satis f actio  and 
placatio  dei  and  applied  to  it  the  view  gained  by  the 
contemplation  of  the  legal  scheme  of  atonement  (abo- 
lition of  suffering  and  punishment  for  guilt  through 
the  expiation,  i.e.  through  the  merit  of  Christ's  death 
which  pacified  an  angry  God.  Calculating  the  value 
to  God  of  Christ's  death:  Ambrose,  Augustine,  the  A^sSne, 
great  popes) .  Moreover  since  Ambrose  they  consist-  popes.a 
ently  advanced  to  the  assumption,  that  the  expiation 
(the  merit)  of  Christ  was  made  as  man,  since  hu- 
manity is  the  debtor  and  since  any  services  rendered 
can  be  ascribed  only  to  the  man,  who,  to  be  sure, 
received  his  worthiness  from  his  Divinity.  Thereby 
the  West  alienated  itself  from  the  East :  Here  is  God 
who  has  taken  humanity  into  union  with  his  being, 
in  consequence  of  which  his  constitution  as  Re- 
deemer ;  yonder  is  man,  the  propitiator,  whose  endur- 
ance of  death  has  a  Divine  value.  But  the  West,  it 
is  true,  did  not  possess  as  yet  a  strict  theory.  It  also 
still  accepted  the  gnostic-eastern  conceptions  that  a 
ransom  was  paid  to  the  devil,  who  thereby  was  de- 
frauded. 
16 


of  Father 
and  Son 


242       OUTLINES   OF   THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  HOMOUSION  OF  THE  SON  OF 
GOD  WITH  GOD  HIMSELF. 

Principal  sources:  The  Church  historians  of  the  4th  and 
5th  centuries  and  the  works  of  the  fathers  of  the  4th  century. 
Gvvatkin,  Studies  of  Arianism,  1882;  Möhler,  Athanasius, 
1827;  Zahn,  Marcell.,  1867;  Hahn,  Bibliothek  d.  Symbole,  2. 
Aufl. 

"?  Fathef  Is  the  Divine,  which  has  appeared  upon  the  earth 
and  reunited  man  with  God,  identical  with  the  high- 
est divine  Being  who  rules  heaven  and  earth,; or  is 
the  same  semi-divine?  That  was  the  decisive  ques- 
tion of  the  Arian  controversy. 

1. — From  the  Beginning  of  the  Controversy  until 
the  Council  of  Niccea. 

Adoption-  At  Antioch,  268,  the  Logos-doctrine  had  been  car- 
ried through,  but  the  6/ioou<Ttos  was  rejected.  Yet  the 
legacy  of  Paul  of  Samosata  did  not  perish.  Lucian, 
the  most  learned  exegete  of  his  time,  took  it  up  and 
founded  a  popular,  influential  exegetico-theological 
school,  which  for  a  long  time  held  aloof  from  the 
Church,  but  later  made  its  peace  with  the  same,  and 
became  the  foster-mother  of  Arianism.  Lucian 
started  from  adoptionism ;  the  high  value  which  he 
placed  upon  the  development  of  Christ  {npoxoTzrj) 
proves  this.  But  he  condescended  to  introduce  the 
hypostatic  Logos,  still  as  Xoyo^-xriaiia^  as  created, 
capable  and  in  need  of  development,  which  is  to  be 


ism. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     243 

sharply  distinguished  from  the  eternal,  impersonal 
Logos   of  God.     The  ego  in  Christ   is  therefore  a       ' 
heavenly  pre-existent  Being  (no  longer  man,  as  with 
Paul) — by  this   admission    Lucian  made  his  peace 
with  the  dogma  and    the    Origenists — but    human    Theology 

0  *-*  Becomes 

qualities  were  attributed  to  the  same,  the  incarnation  ToCg^01" 
became  a  mere  assuming  of  the  flesh,  and  by  means 
of  the  Aristotelian  dialectics  and  Biblical  exegesis  Lf 
a  doctrinal  principle  was  now  propounded  iii  which 
the  unbegotten  Creator  (the  "  Eternal ")  was  placed 
in  sharp  contrast  with  all  created  beings,  conse- 
quently also  with  the  Logos-Christ,  and  theology 
became  "technology",  that  is,  a  doctrine  of  the  un- 
begotten and  the  begotten  was  worked  out  in  syllo- 
gisms founded  upon  the  holy  codex,  without  genu- 
ine interest  in  the  thought  of  redemption,  yet  not 
without  moral  energy,  and  this  was  spread  abroad 
by  disciples  closely  allied  and  proud  of  their  dialec- 
tics and  their  exegetical  art. 

To  these  Arius  also  belonged,  who  at  a  ripe  age  Anus" 
became  deacon  and  presbyter  in  Alexandria.  There, 
at  that  time,  a  tendency  was  represented  in  the  epis- 
copate which  mistrusted  the  fiaürj/iara  tt,$  'EXfajvixijs 
<pdoao<pia$  and  put  aside  the  thought  of  the  difference 
between  Father  and  Logos.  Although  Arius  had 
for  some  time  combated  Christological  errors  along 
with  his  bishop  Alexander,  yet  about  the  year  318 
he  began  to  differ  with  the  latter,  and  the  bishop 
found  it  necessary  about  320  to  condemn  and  depose 
Arius  and  some  of  the  other  clergy,  at  a  synod  held 


2-14        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA 


Eusebius 

of  Nico- 
tnedia. 


Constan- 

tine, 
Hosius. 


Alexan- 
der's 
Formula. 


in  Alexandria,  on  account  of  their  Christology. 
But  he  stepped  into  a  wasp's  nest.  The  followers  of 
Lucian  and  above  all  the  influential  Eusebius  of 
Nicomedia  took  decidedly  the  part  of  Arius,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Oriental  bishops  were  indeed  in 
sympathy  with  him  (also  Eusebius  of  Cesarea) .  Let- 
ters were  written  on  both  sides  to  gain  assistance ; 
synods  also  were  held.  Arius  was  able  under  pro- 
test to  take  up  again  his  work  in  Alexandria.  When 
Constantino,  323,  became  ruler  also  of  the  Orient,  the 
contest  spread  to  all  the  coast  provinces  of  the  East 
(Thalia  of  Arius;  derision  of  Jews  and  heathen). 
The  emperor  sought  at  first  to  reconcile  both  parties 
by  a  letter  delivered  by  the  court-bishop,  Hosius,  of 
Cordova  (the  dispute  is  an  idle,  unbecoming  quarrel) . 
But  the  letter  had  no  effect,  and  Hosius,  who  cham- 
pioned the  Tertullian-Cyprian  doctrine  of  the  trin- 
ity, probably  at  that  very  time  came  to  an  agreement 
with  Alexander.  Through  him  the  emperor  also 
was  gained  over  and  the  Nicene  decision  prepared 
for.  Following  his  advice,  Constantine  called  a 
council  at  Nica3a. 

Alexander's  doctrine  (vid.  his  two  letters  and  the 
epist.  Arii  ad  Euseb.)  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
essentially  identical  with  the  later  one  of  Athanasius ; 
but  it  was  not  clear  in  its  formulations.  Especially 
did  he  hardly  raise  the  öpoouaios  to  a  rallying-cry, 
ince  the  same  was  repudiated  in  the  East.  Hosius 
probably  introduced  it  as  a  translation  of  the  West- 
ern unius  sabstantiae.     Alexander's  formulas  were : 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     245 

«et  #£«9,  äsi  ui<t$,  ajia  narrip^  aim  uW?,  (Toyuzap^et  6  ulo$ 
äyevvrJTms  rw  #£05,  äetyevrj^  äy£V7]Toyev7J?j  out  iittvota  our 
dro/xw  ttvi  itpodyet  6  tied?  too  oloo    ae\  #£09,  de\  ut6$.  s£  aoro-j 

rod  #£ou  6  uio$.  Alexander  asserted  the  eternal  co-ex- 
istence without  beginning  of  the  Father  and  the  Son 
(influence  of  Irenseus?)  He  included  the  Son  in  the 
being  of  the  Father  as  a  necessary  constituent  part ; 
he  refuted  the  tenets,  that  the  Son  is  not  eternal,  that 
he  was  created  out  of  nothing,  that  he  is  not  yvesi 
God,  that  he  changes,  that  he  has  passed  through  a 
moral  development  and  is  only  adopted  Son.  He 
consciously  contended  for  the  common  faith  in  the 
Church,  for  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  and  he  rejected 
above  all  the  dialectics  about  "  begotten  "  and  "  un-  ^IJectS 
begotten".     He  quoted  in  favor  of  his  view  the  Scrip-     Begotten 

,  _  ,  and  Unbe- 

ture  proofs  (John  1 :  1-3;  1 :  18;  10:  30;  14:  8,  9  gotten. 
and  28;  Math.  3:  17;  11:  27;  I.  John  5 :  1;  Col.  1: 
15,  16;  Rom.  8:  32;  Heb.  1:  2  seq.;  Prov.  8:  30; 
Psa.  2:  7;  110:  3;  35:  10;  Isa.  53 :  8).  He  was  fond 
of  using  the  favorite  expression  of  Origen :  The  Son 
is  the  perfect  reflection ;  but  even  the  following  ex- 
pression does  not  satisfy  him :  &  aor$  /apaxrrjp^evac  6 
izarrjp.  He  approaches  Sabellianism,  but  desires  to  tfSJef 
reject  it  strongly,  and  asserts  that  the  Father  is 
nevertheless  greater  than  the  Son  who  belongs  to 
his  being.  He  wants  to  see  the  "  coming  forth  "  of 
such  a  Son  revered  as  a  mystery :  It  is  a  question  of 
faith,  not  of  speculation.  Still  he  often  uses  unin- 
telligible, confused  and  contradictory  expressions, 
among  which  even  itarpixi)  &epy&vfa  is  not  wanting, 


246        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

which  contrast  unfavorably  with  the  plain,  clear 
sentences  of  Arius,  for  whom  it  was  an  easy  task 
to  show  that  the  doctrine  of  Alexander  was  neither 
protected  against  dualism  (two  oyi^za)^  nor  against 
gnostic  emanationism  (xpoßoXrj,  äT.öpm>>.a),  nor  against 
Sabellianism  {oloitdrwp)^  nor  against  the  representa- 
tion of  the  corporeality  of  God,  and  had  the  character- 
istics of  a  chameleon  and  was  Biblically  untenable. 

Doctrine.  Arius  taught  the  following  (see  his  own  letters 
and  the  letters  of  his  friends,  the  fragments  of  the 
Thalia,  the  characterization  in  Alexander  and  Atha- 
nasius,  the  writings  of  the  later  Arians)  : 

God  Alone       (i)  The  one  God,  besides  whom  there  is  no  other, 

Eternal.  x    '  7  ' 

is  alone  unbegotten,  without  beginning,  eternal ;  he 
is  inexpressible  and  incomprehensible;  furthermore 
he  is  the  cause  and  creator  of  all  things.  In  these 
attributes  consists  his  nature  (the  unbegotten  Gen- 
erator) .  His  activity  is  in  creating  ("  to  beget "  is 
only  a  synonym).  Everything  which  is,  has  been 
created — not  out  of  the  nature  of  God  (otherwise  he 
would  not  be  simple  and  spiritual),  but  out  of  his 
own  free  will.  Accordingly  God  has  not  always  been 
Father,  else  the  created  would  be  eternal ;  the  created 
also  can  never  receive  the  essence  of  God ;  for  this 
precisely  is  uncreated. 
Hin7!  Dweii  (2)  Within  this  God  dwell,  as  inseparable  powers, 
and  Logos.  Wisdom  and  Logos ;  there  are  beside  many  created 

poivers. 
whin  Ion       (3)  Before  the  world  was,  God  created  out  of  his 
own  free  will  an  independent  Being  (obcia,  Marast^^ 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  INCARNATION.     247 

as  an  instrument  for  the  production  of  the  other 
creatures,  who  according  to  Scripture  is  called  Wis- 
dom, Son,  Likeness,  Word ;  like  all  creatures  he  was 
created  out  of  nothing  and  had  a  beginning.  There 
was  therefore  a  time  when  this  Son  was  not.  He  is 
only  called  inappropriately  "  Son " ;  the  other  crea- 
tures are  also  called  thus  by  Scripture. 

(4)  This    "  Son "    therefore   is,    according  to  his  tf™t  Jfe^ 
being,   an  independent  magnitude,   totally  distinct     Fat  er" 
from  the  "Father".     He  has  neither  one  being  with 

the  Father,  nor  like  qualities  of  nature  (otherwise 
there  would  be  two  Gods) .  Rather  has  he  a  free  will 
and  is  capable  of  changing.  But  he  has  resolved 
permanently  upon  the  good.  Thus  by  virtue  of  his 
choice  he  has  become  unchangeable. 

(5)  The  "  Son",  then,  is  not  very  God,  and  he  has  ,TSon  °.ot, 

V     '  '  '  J  1  yery    Qod 

Divine  qualities  only  as  acquired  and  only  in  part. 
Because  he  is  not  eternal,  his  knowledge  also  is  not 
perfect.  To  him,  therefore,  is  not  due  like  honor 
with  the  Father. 

(6)  Still  he  differs  from  all  creatures;  he  is  the  Sonfr^ers 
xTtfffia  riAstov,  through  whom   everything  has  been 
created ;  he  stands  in  an  especial  relationship  of  grace 

to  God.  Through  God's  communication  and  his  own 
progress,  he  has  become  God,  so  that  we  may  call 
him  "only  begotten  God". 

(7)  This  Son  has  truly  assumed  a  human  body,    son  Truly 

Incar- 

The  attributes,   which  the  historical  Christ  mani-      nated- 
fested,  show  that  the  Logos  to  which  they  belonged 
is  a  being  capable  of  suffering  and  is  not  perfect. 


248        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Scripture 
Proof. 


Holy  Spirit       (g)  j>y  the  side  of  and  below  the  Son  stands  the 

Subordi-  v    '        J 

natetoson.  Holy  gpirit;  for  tiie  Christian  believes  in  three 
separate  and  different  obaiai  (Jj-o<TTä<rei$ ) ;  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  created  through  the  Son. 

(9)  Scripture  proofs  for  these  doctrines  were :  Deut. 
C:  4;  32:  39;  Prov.  8 :  22;  Ps.  45 :  8;  Math.  12:  28; 
Mk.  13:  32;  Math.  2G:  41;  28:  18;  Lk.  2:  52;  18: 
19;  John  11:  34 ;  14:  28;  17 :  3;  Acts  2:  36;  I.  Cor. 
1:  24;  15:  28;  Col.  1:  15;  Phil.  2:  6  seq.;  Heb.  1: 
4;  3:  2;  John  12:  27;  13:  21;  Math.  26:  39;  27:  46, 
etc.  Dialectically  the  sophist  Asterius  above  all  de- 
fended this  doctrinal  conception.  With  strict  Arian- 
ism  the  tradition  coming  from  Paul  and  Lucian  had 
most  weight ;  with  the  more  liberal  party  (Eusebius 
of  Cesarea)  the  doctrine  of  subordination  as  taught 
by  Origen. 

Athanasius'  doctrine,  in  its  dogmatico-scientific 
Soctrim?  delineation  not  important,  was  great  in  its  victorious 
perseverance  in  the  faith.  It  comprises  really  only 
one  tenet:  God  himself  has  entered  into  humanity. 
It  is  rooted  wholly  in  the  thought  of  redemption. 
Judaism  and  paganism  have  not  brought  back  hu- 
manity into  communion  with  God :  Only  God  could 
deify  us,  i.e.,  adopt  us  as  his  sons.  He  who  denies 
that  Christ  is  very  God,  is  still  a  Jew  or  a  heathen. 
Athanasius  has  in  fact  no  longer  a  Logos-doctrine ;  he 
is  a  Christologian.  He  thinks  only  and  always  of  that 
Christ  who  is  God.  He  did  not  care  for  a  formula; 
even  the  6fioouaio$  is  not  so  often  used  by  him  as  one 
might  think.     His  main  principles  are  the  following : 


Athana- 
sius' 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   INCARNATION.     249 

(1)  If  Christ  is  God— and  that  he  must  be  as  Re-    (^li; 
deemer — then  he  has  as  such  nothing  creature-like  in    creatures. 
him  and  belongs  in  no  sense  to  created  existences. 
Athanasius  makes  just  as  strict  a  distinction  be- 
tween created  and  uncreated  as  Arius,  but  he  sets 

the  Son  aside  as  belonging  to  God  in  opposition  to 
the  world. 

(2)  Since  the   Divine   in   Christ  is  not  created,     DoctrEe" 

Done  Away 

it  can  also  not  be  postulated  of  the  world  and  with. 
the  creation  of  the  world;  besides,  God  needs  no 
mediation  for  the  creation  of  the  world.  Conse- 
quently the  idea  of  the  Divine,  who  has  redeemed 
man,  is  to  be  separated  from  the  idea  of  the  world ; 
the  old  Logos-doctrine  was  done  away  with.  Nature 
and  revelation  were  no  longer  considered  identical. 
The  Logos-Son  is  the  principle  of  salvation,  not  the 
principle  of  the  world. 

(3)  But  since  Divinity  is  a  unity  (//-ova?)  and  the     §^.^'Q 
Son  does  not  belong  to  the  world,  he  must  belong  to    Godiead- 
this  very  unity  of  the  unbegotten  Power  which  is  the 
Father. 

(4)  The  very  name  "  Father  "  signifies  that  there  Fa^eIm_ 
is  present  in  Divinity   a   second  being.     God   has    phes  Sou' 
always  been  Father ;  he  who  calls  him  this,  names 

the  Son  also ;  for  the  Father  is  Father  of  the  Son, 
and  not  properly  Father  of  the  world,  for  it  has  been 
created ;  uncreated,  however,  is  the  Divine  trias,  ex- 
isting in  unity. 

(5)  Consequently  the  Son  is  ylvv^iia  too  Trarpö?,  be-  g^  Qufof 
gotten  out  of  the  being  of  God,  as  the  light  from  the      elGod.° 


250       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

sun,  through  an  inner  necessity.  He  is  the  likeness 
proceeding  from  the  divine  Being.  "  To  be  begot- 
ten "  means  nothing  else  than  to  have  complete  par- 
ticipation by  nature  in  the  whole  nature  of  the 
Father,  without  the  Father  thereby  suffering  loss  in 
any  way. 
Eternal  (0)  Therefore  the  Arian  assertions  are  false ;   the 

^SSGoda  Son  is  rather  (a)  alike  eternal  with  the  Father,  (b) 
out  of  the  being  of  the  Father,  (c)  in  all  parts  as  to 
nature  equally  endowed  with  the  Father,  and  he  is 
all  this  because  he  has  one  and  the  same  essence 
with  the  Father  and  forms  ivith  him  a  strict  unity 
— "essence",  however,  in  regard  to  God  means  noth- 
ing else  than  "being".  It  is  not  true  that  the 
Father  is  one  Being  in  himself  and  the  Son  another 
in  himself,  and  that  these  two  have  like  qualities — 
that  would  annul  the  unity  of  the  Divinity,  but  the 
Father  is  the  Divinity ;  this  Divinity,  however,  con- 
tains within  itself  as  self-sufficient  and  self -efficient 
product  a  "  going  forth  "  which  also  possessed  from 
eternity,  and  not  by  virtue  of  a  communication,  the 
same  divine  nature — the  true  Son,  the  likeness  pro- 
ceeding from  the  divine  Being.  Father  and  Son  are 
one  Being,  which  includes  in  itself  the  distinction 
between  äppj  and  yivvyfia,  consequently  between  prin- 
ciple and  derivation  and,  in  this  sense,  a  subordi- 
nation, which  however  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
subordination  of  the  created — this  is  the  meaning  of 
the  öfioouffto?  in  Athanasius. 

(7)  All  creature-qualities    which    the   Scriptures 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     251 

ascribe  to  Jesus  Christ  have  reference  merelv  to  his    £re^u.re- 

•/  Qualities 

human   nature.     The   exaltation   also   refers  to  the    Belmfto 
same;  i.e.  to  our  exaltation;  for  the  union  of  the     Nature. 
God- Logos  with  human  nature  was  from  the  begin- 
ning a  substantial  and  perfect  one  (Mary  as  &eor6xgs)  : 
The  body  became  his  body.     Proverbs  8:  22  seq. 
also  has  reference  to  the  incarnate  Logos. 

Both  doctrines  are  formally  in  this  respect  alike,  that  in 

them  religion  and  theology  are  most  intimately  mingled  and 

grounded  upon  the  Logos-doctrine.     But  Arianism  is  a  union    Arianism, 

Athana- 
of  adoptionism  with  the  Origenistic-Neo-Platonic  doctrine  of     sianism. 

the  subordinate  Logos  which  is  the  spiritual  principle  of  the 
world,  carried  out  by  means  of  the  resources  of  the  Aristo- 
telian dialectics ;  the  orthodox  doctrine  is  a  union  of  the  al- 
most modalistically  colored  dogma,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God 
in  kind,  with  the  Origenistic  doctrine  of  the  Logos  as  the 
perfect  likeness  of  the  Father.  In  the  former,  the  principal 
stress  was  placed  upon  the  cosmological  and  rational-ethical 
side  (descending  trinity,  enlightening  and  strengthening  of 
freedom)  ;  in  the  latter,  upon  the  thought  of  redemption,  but 
under  a  physical  conception.  In  the  former,  the  formulas 
are  apparently  free  from  connivance  and  contradictions ;  but 
the  speculative  mythology,  strictly  viewed,  is  as  bad  as  pos- 
sible ;  furthermore,  only  as  cosmologians  are  the  Arians  mono- 
theists ;  as  theologians  and  in  religion  they  are  polytheists ; 
finally  in  the  background  lie  deep  contradictions  :  A  Son  who 
is  no  Son,  a  Logos  which  is  no  Logos,  a  monotheism  which    Contradic- 

Lions  ill 

does  not  exclude  polytheism,  two  or  three  ovaia  who  are  to  be  Ariamsm- 
adored,  while  really  only  one  differs  from  the  creatures,  an 
indefinable  being  who  only  becomes  God  in  becoming  man, 
and  who  is  neither  God  nor  man.  Besides,  there  was  no  vig- 
orous religious  interest,  and  also  no  real  philosophical  inter- 
est, much  more  was  everything  hollow  and  formalistic,  even 


252       OUTLINES  OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Orthodox 

Doctrine, 

Value    and 

Defects. 


Inconceiv- 
able 
Formulas. 


Contradict 
Scripture. 


a  puerile  enthusiasm  for  sporting  with  husks  and  shells  and 
a  childish  self-sufficiency  in  setting  at  work  unmeaning  syl- 
logisms. The  opponents  were  quite  right :  This  doctrine  leads 
back  to  paganism.  A  relative  value  only  is  due  to  it,  when, 
coming  in  contact  with  uncultured  and  barbarian  nations,  it 
was  obliged  to  strip  off  its  philosophical  garments  and  in  that 
way  was  able  to  pass  itself  off  essentially  as  adoptionism,  as 
the  veneration  of  Christ  by  the  side  of  God  based  upon  Bib- 
lical passages  (German  adoptianism) .  The  orthodox  doctrine, 
on  the  contrary,  possesses  its  lasting  value  through  its  main- 
tenance of  the  faith  that  in  Christ  God  himself  has  redeemed 
mankind  and  brought  us  into  communion  with  himself.  But, 
since  the  God  in  Christ  was  conceived  as  "  alter  ego  "  of  the 
Father,  and  since  redemption  was  conceived  in  a  mystico- 
physical  form,  there  resulted, 

1.  Formulas,  the  direct  gainsaying  of  which  is  evident 
(one  =  three) ,  and  ideas,  which  cannot  be  conceived,  but  only 
asserted  in  words.  Thereby  in  the  place  of  the  knoicledge  of 
God  which  Christ  had  promised,  was  put  a  mystery,  and  this 
was  to  be  recognized  as  the  most  profound  knowledge.  By  the 
side  of  the  miracle,  as  characteristic  of  religion,  was  placed 
the  miracle  of  ideas  as  characteristic  of  the  true  theology ; 

2.  The  assertion  that  the  Person  in  Christ  is  the  Logos,  one 
being  with  God,  could  be  maintained  only  when  one  reversed 
the  interpretations  of  all  evangelical  reports  concerning  him, 
and  understood  his  history  docetically.  Therefore,  the  in- 
troduction of  the  absurd,  and  the  abandonment  of  the  histor- 
ical Christ  in  his  most  valuable  traits,  is  the  consequence  of 
the  orthodox  doctrine.  But  the  claim  that  Jesus  Christ  has 
led  men  back  to  God,  and  given  to  them  Divine  life,  was 
still  maintained.  This  conviction  of  faith  was  saved  by 
Athanasius  against  a  doctrine  which,  upon  the  whole,  did  not 
appreciate  the  inward  nature  of  religion,  which  sought  in 
religion  only  instruction,  and  finally  found  satisfaction  in 
an  empty  dialectics. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.     253 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  with  Arius,  as  well  as  with  Athana-       Due  to 

Scientific 
sius,  the  contradictions  and  weaknesses  flow  from  the  reception    Theology. 

of  Origenism,  that  is,  from  the  scientific  theology.  Without 
this,  that  is,  without  the  doctrine  of  the  pre-existent,  hypo- 
statical  Logos,  Arianism  would  have  been  adoptionism,  or 
pure  rationalism,  and  Athanasius  would  have  been  forced 
either  to  turn  to  modalism,  or  to  relinquish  the  idea  of  the 
Divine  "nature"  of  Christ. 

At  the  synod  of  Nicsea  (325)  the  homousios  T?™mph? 
(Hosius)  finally  conquered,  thanks  to  the  awkward 
tactics  of  the  Arians  and  Eusebians  (Origenistic 
middle  party),  to  the  decisiveness  of  the  orthodox 
and  to  the  determination  of  the  emperor.  Into  the 
Csssarean  creed  the  watch-words  yevvydivTa  ou  itoiriMv- 

xa^  tx  Tz,?  oufftas  too  narpos,  ofioubawv  r<p  izarpi  were  in- 
serted, the  Arian  formulas  expressly  condemned,  and 
this  creed  was  made  the  law  of  the  Church.  Almost 
all  the  bishops  (300?  318?)  submitted,  Arius  and  a 
few  companions  were  excommunicated  and  their  fol- 
lowers persecuted.  Athanasius  attended  this  synod 
as  deacon,  probably  not  without  taking  an  important 
part. 

2.  —  Until  the  Death  of  Constantius. 

The  victory  had  been  gained  too  quickly.  Neither  p^jj^ure 
formally,  nor  essentially  had  it  been  sufficiently 
worked  out,  therefore  the  contest  had  really  only 
begun.  Men  saw  in  the  homousios  an  unbiblical, 
new  formula,  the  making  of  two  Gods,  or  the  intro- 
duction of  Sabellianism,  and,  in  addition,  the  death 


254       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

of  clear  science.  Among  the  opponents  who  together 
came  forward  as  conservatives,  two  parties  now  be- 
came clearly  prominent,  the  Arians  and  the  Origen- 
ists  (Eusebians)  to  whom  the  indifferents  joined 
themselves.  But  they  were  united  in  the  contest 
against  orthodoxy  (principal  champion  against  it 
was  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia) . 

BtSSs  Constantine  soon  understood  that  he  would  have 
to  come  to  an  agreement  with  the  anti-Nicene  coali- 
tion, which  after  328  became  anti-Athanasian,  for 
the  young  bishop  was  the  most  decided  Nicene. 
Personal  differences  arose  at  a  time  when  the  ambi- 
tion and  power  of  the  ecclesiastics  could  finally 
reckon  upon  the  highest  gratification.  In  335  Atha- 
nasius  was  declared  deposed  at  T}~re,  and  in  336  he 
was  banished  by  the  emperor  to  Trier.  The  solemn 
reception  of  Arius  into  the  Church  was  frustrated  by 
his  death.  In  337  Constantine  died,  really  approv- 
ing the  promulgating,  under  the  cover  of  the  Nicene 
creed,  of  hostile  doctrines. 
tiusFavors       ^s  sons  divided  the  empire.     Athanasius  (337) 

Arians.  retUrned.  But  Constantius,  the  ruler  of  the  East, 
rightly  understood  that  he  could  not  govern  with 
orthodoxy,  and  he  did  not  feel  himself  bound,  like 
his   father,  to  the   Nicene  creed.     He  deposed  the 

m  orthodox   bishop  of  the  capital;   Eusebius  of  Nico- 

Eusebius  x  ' 

Nicomedia.  media  took  his  place.  In  Cassarea  an  Arian,  Acacius, 
succeeded  Eusebius;  Athanasius  was  deposed,  but 
he  anticipated  his  banishment  by  flight  to  Rome 
(339),  leaving  Egypt  in  wild  disorder.     The  Euse- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.     255 

bians  were  not  masters  of  the  situation,  but  the  West 
was  true  Nicene  and  the  stronghold  of  Oriental  ortho- 
doxy. The  Eusebians  did  not  wish  to  break  with 
the  West;  they  were,  therefore,  obliged  to  try  to 
quietly  push  aside  the  Nicene  creed,  replacing  in 
mere  pretence  the  homousios  by  better  Biblical 
formulas  and  demanding  the  carrying  out  of  the  de- 
position of  Athanasius.  It  was  of  great  advantage 
to  the  Orientals  that  a  strict  Nicene  and  a  friend  of 
Athanasius,  Marcellus  of  Ancyra,  did  not  sanction    Marceiius 

of  Ancyra. 

the  common  foundation  of  the  teaching,  the  philo- 
sophical-Origenistic  Logos-doctrine,  but  declared  the 
Logos  to  be  the  Power  of  God,  which  only  at  the  in- 
carnation had  become  divine  Person  and  "  Son",  in 
order  to  return  to  the  Father  when  once  he  had  fin- 
ished his  work  (the  Orientals  saw  in  this  doctrine 
"  Sabellianism  ") .  Julius  of  Rome  and  Athanasius 
declared  Marcellus  to  be  orthodox,  and  proved  there- 
by that  they  were  concerned  alone  about  redemptive 
faith  and  laid  aside  the  formulas  set  up  by  the 
Orientals  at  Antioch  (341),  although  the  latter  now 
formally  renounced  Arianism  and  established  a  doc- 
trine which  could  be  taken  for  Nicene. 

Political  reasons  compelled  Constantius  to  be  oblig-  c^nn^.il  of 
ing  to  his  orthodox  brother,  Constans,  the  ruler  of 
the  West.  The  great  council  of  Sardica  (343)  was 
intended  to  restore  unity  of  faith  in  the  empire. 
But  the  Occidentals  refused  the  preliminary  demand 
of  the  Orientals  to  acknowledge  the  deposition  of 
Athanasius  and  Marcellus,  and  proclaimed  after  the 


256        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Synods  at 
Milan. 


Constan- 

tius  Sole 

Ruler. 


Synods  of 

Aries  and 

Milan. 


exodus  of  the  Orientals  (to  Philippopolis)  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  leaders,  taking  their  position  rigidly  upon 
the  basis  of  the  Nicene  creed.  The  opponents  reit- 
erated the  4th  Antiochian  formula.  Constantius 
himself  seems  to  have  mistrusted  them  for  a  time ; 
he  certainly  feared  to  irritate  his  brother  who  was  en- 
deavoring to  gain  the  supremacy.  The  Orientals  re- 
iterated once  more  in  a  long  formula  their  orthodoxy 
(Antioch,  344)  and  the  minimum  of  their  demands. 
Although  the  West  at  the  Milan  synods  (345-347) 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  Photinus  of  Sirmium,  who 
from  the  doctrine  of  his  master,  Marcellus,  had  de- 
veloped a  strictly  adoptian  conception  (the  Logos 
never  became  a  person),  it  yet  remained  otherwise 
firm,  while  in  the  East  political  bishops  already 
meditated  peace  with  Athanasius.  The  latter  was 
restored  by  Constantius,  who  was  hard  pressed  by 
the  Persians,  and  he  was  greeted  with  great  rejoic- 
ings in  Alexandria  (346).  About  348  it  appeared  as 
if  orthodoxy  had  conquered ;  only  Marcellus  and  the 
word  ofioooatos  seemed  still  to  give  offence. 

But  the  death  of  Constans  (350)  and  the  defeat  of 
the  usurper  Magnentius  (353)  changed  everything. 
If  Constantius  during  the  last  years  was  obliged  to 
bow  before  a  few  bishops,  his  own  subjects,  who 
had  ruled  his  brother,  he  now  as  sole  ruler  was  de- 
termined to  govern  the  Church  and  pay  back  the 
humiliations.  Already  in  351  (2d  Sirmian  synod) 
the  Oriental  bishops  had  returned  to  action.  At  the 
synods  of  Aries  (353)  and  Milan  (355)  the  Western 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     257 

episcopate  was  obliged  to  come  to  terms.  At  first 
nothing  further  was  demanded  of  it  than  the  con- 
demnation of  Athanasius,  but  this  meant  a  diver- 
gence on  the  question  of  faith,  and  the  bishops  al- 
lowed it  to  be  forced  upon  them  (a  few  exceptions : 
Paulinus  of  Trier,  Lucifer  of  Cagliari,  Eusebius  of 
Vercelli;  also  Hosius,  Liberius,  Hilarius  had  to  go 
into  exile).  Athanasius  anticipated  his  deposition  by 
flight  into  the  desert  (356).  Union  seemed  restored, 
but  it  was  as  state  ecclesiasticism,  against  which 
orthodox  Western  bishops  fiercely  inveighed,  now 
only  remembering  that  emperor  and  state  should 
not  meddle  with  religion. 

The  union  of  the  victors  was  only  a  seeming  one,   Aetius  and 

J  °  '      Eunomins. 

for  it  became  apparent  that  it  did  not  go  beyond 
negations.  Strict  aggressive  Arianism  again  came 
forward  in  Aetius  and  Eunomius  and  wanted  to 
carry  through  the  "anomoian"  doctrine  {av&fiotoi  xal 

xard  ndvTa  xai  xar  obcriav) .      In  opposition  to  this,  semi- 

Arianism  placed  itself  in  sharp  contrast  (the  "un- 
changeable likeness",  OfLOtos  xard  ruhra  xa)  xard    rrtv  ou- 
oiav).      These  homoiusians  (Georgius  of    Laodicea,      $Sn™' 
Eustathius  of  Sebaste,  Eusebius  of  Emesa,  Basilius         of 

Laodicea, 

of  Ancyra)  had  learned  that  the  Son  must  be,  as  to   Ju|^g| 
being,  of  like  essence  with  the  Father ;  as  scientific  BAncyra  ° 
men   (cosmologians)  they  did  not  wish  to  abandon 
the  cosmic  potentiality  of  the  Logos  and  the  descend- 
ing trinity.     They  understood  how,  with  the  Scrip- 
tures as  a  basis  and  in  connection  with  Christology, 

to  so  formulate  their  doctrine  that  it  made  an  im- 

17 


258        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


From 

857-301 

Consran- 

thia 

Openly 

Favors 

Arianism. 


Semi- 

Arians, 

Synods  at 

Seleucia 

and 
Rimini. 


pression  even  upon  Nicene  Occidentals,  who,  to  be 
sure,  were  still  half  idiots  in  scientific  theology.  The 
third  party  was  that  of  the  politicians,  who  applauded 
that  formula  which  had  the  best  prospect  of  settling 
the  contest  (Ursacius  and  Valens:  opoiog  xard  r«? 
Y<>a<pci.i).  The  period  from  357-361  is  the  time  during 
which  the  emperor,  openly  dropping  the  Nicene 
creed,  sought  for  a  Christological  imperial  formula, 
and  proposed  with  all  energy  to  carry  it  through  at 
the  synods.  Here,  finally,  only  the  "  onow<s  xarä  tö$ 
Ypa<pä<s "  could  be  presented ;  for  with  this  unmeaning 
formula,  the  Arians,  semi-Arians  and  even  the  ortho- 
dox could  make  friends,  since  it  directly  contra- 
dicted no  doctrine.  The  Sirmian  synods  had  not  as 
yet  accomplished  what  they  ought,  and  they  even 
showed  a  passing  tendency  to  strict  Arianism.  At 
Ancyra  (358)  the  semi-Arians  rallied  powerfully. 
Two  great  contemporaneous  sjmods  in  the  East  and 
West  (at  Seleucia  and  Rimini)  were  expected  to  pro- 
claim the  4th  Sirmian  formula,  a  dogmatico-political 
masterpiece  of  the  emperor.  But  when  the  one  as- 
sumed a  homoiusian,  the  other  an  orthodox  attitude, 
they  were  terrorized,  kept  in  suspense,  and  the  ho- 
moiusian imperial  creed  was  forced  upon  them  in 
exchange  for  concurrence  in  the  expulsion  of  strict 
Arianism  (synods  at  Nice  and  Constantinople  360). 
Afterward  all  homoiusians  were  nevertheless  ban- 
ished from  the  influential  positions,  so  that,  in  spite 
of  the  expulsion  of  Aetius,  an  Arianism,  moderated 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     259 

through  want  of  principle,  actually  established  itself 
in  the  Church  as  the  state  religion. 

3. — Until  the  Councils  at  Constantinople,  381,  383. 

In  the  year  301  Constantius  died.  Julian  sue-  colfstan- 
ceeded  him,  and  accordingly,  instead  of  the  artificial  jui!anSkm- 
union,  the  real  parties  succeeded  again  to  their  rights. 
But  the  homoiusians  were  no  longer  the  "middle 
party",  no  longer  the  "  conservatives "  in  the  old 
sense;  for  in  opposition  to  Arianism,  they  had  deep- 
ened and  strengthened  their  doctrine  (conservatives 
possess  elasticity).  Conservative  and  conciliatory 
were  the  homoians  who  inclined  toward  Arian- 
ism. Here  the  change  in  the  Orient — at  first,  in- 
deed, only  in  the  minds  of  the  most  prominent  theo- 
logians— is  shown.  The  homoiusians,  disciples  of 
Origen,  distinguished  alike  for  ecclesiastical  feeling, 
asceticism  and  pure  science,  capitulated  to  the 
homousios,  an  alliance  which  Hilarius  zealously 
urged  forward. 

Julian  permitted  the  banished  bishops,  therefore  ^ih?? 
also  Athanasius,  to  return.  The  synod  of  Alexandria  EfroUmn 
(302)  marks  the  turning-point  in  so  far  as  Atha- 
nasius there  admitted  that  the  Nicene  creed  sans 
phrase  should  be  valid;  that  is,  he  expressly  re- 
nounced the  phrase  "  one  being "  {one  hypostasis) 
and  thus  allowed  such  an  interpretation  of  the 
o;mon<7u^  as  made  it  "  one  essence  "  (instead  of  "  one 


Exile. 


260        OUTLINES   OF    THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Lucifer. 


Apollina- 

ris   of 

Laodicea 

and  the 


being"),  which  constituted  therefore  three  hyposta- 
ses. But  this  concession  and  the  great  leniency 
toward  those  who  once  had  signed  the  4th  Sirmian 
formula  provoked  the  displeasure  of  some  of  the 
prominent  Occidentals  (Lucifer)  and  martyrs  of  the 
faith.  In  the  West  one  felt  that  the  old  doctrine 
(the  substantial  unity  of  the  Deity  is  the  rock  and 
the  plurality  is  the  mystery)  had  been  inverted  (the 
trinity  of  the  divine  Persons  is  the  rock  and  the 
unity  is  the  problem) ,  and  Athanasius  himself  was 
not  able  to  add  real  friends  to  his  new  scientific 
friends  in  Asia  Minor,  Cappadocia  and  Antioch ;  for 
now  the  science  of  Origen  had  been  rescued  for  ortho- 
doxy. The  great  theologians,  Apollinaris  of  Laodicea 
and  the  three  Cappadocians,  started  from  Origen  and 

Three  Cap- 
padocians.   the  oiiowuatoq ;  but  the}7  recognized  the  6ßoooaio<s  now 

and  were  able  to  carry  on  their  philosophical  specu- 
lations with  it  and  by  the  side  of  it;  for  one  could 
say  that  there  are  three  hypostases,  and  still  be  ortho- 
dox. By  creating  a  firm  terminology,  they  suc- 
ceeded at  the  same  time  in  producing  apparently 
clear  formulas.  Ohaia  now  received  the  middle  sense 
between  the  abstract  idea  of  "  being "  and  the  con- 
crete idea  of  "  individual  being  " ;  so,  however,  that 
it  very  strongly  inclined  to  the  former.  'T-öara<j^  re- 
ceived the  middle  sense  between  person  and  attri- 
bute (accident,  i.e.  modality),  in  such  away,  how- 
ever, that  the  conception  of  person  was  the  stronger. 
Ilp6au)7tuv,  since  it  sounded  Sabellian-like,  was 
avoided,  but  not   rejected.     The  unity  of  the  Deity, 


-.> 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     261  *   C 

which  the  Cappadocians  were  concerned  about,  was  \*o 

not  the  same  as  Athanasius  and  the  Occidentals  had         x 
in  mind,     Mia  oucria  iv  rpitrh  hizoaxda^aiv  became  the  0         ® 
formula.     In  order  to  render  clear  the  real  difference 
in  the  Persons  within  the  unity  of  the  Deity,  Greg- 
ory of  Nyssa    added    to  them  rpoTtot  bitdp^sca^  {ldi6rrjrs<s 
yapay-runZourrat,   igatpera    Mtd/iata),    and    indeed  to  the 

Father  the  dyevvyjffia  (not  as  being,  but  as  mode  of 
being  [*£&«?]  of  the  Father),  to  the  Son  the  yevvrjaia — 
even  the  older  homoiusians  had  been  here  more  re- 
served than  Gregory — and  to  the  Spirit  ixTz6p&oai<s. 
The  Origenistic-Neo-Platonic  trinity-speculation  be-  origenistic 
came  rehabilitated.  The  Logos  idea  again  came  to  tioneCRehk- 
the  front.  The  unity  of  the  Deity  was  again  proved 
from  the  monarchy  of  the  Father,»  not  from  the  <>p-o- 
oufftos.  Thus  "science"  formed  its  alliance  with  the 
Nicene  doctrine.  While  in  the  beginning  scientists 
— also  among  the  heathen — acknowledged  Arms  to 
be  in  the  right,  now  men  became  champions  of  the 
Nicene  doctrine,  to  whom  even  a  Libanius  extended 
the  palm  branch.  They  stood  upon  the  soil  of  a 
-  scientific  contemplation  of  the  world,"  were  in  ac- 
cord with  Plato,  Origen  and  Libanius,  and  refuted 
Eunomius  amidst  the  applause  of  the  philosophers. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  a  victory  of  Neo-Platonism 
over    Aristotelian    dialectics.     Thus    orthodoxy    in     fPmeaf 

•  i  i  '  Ortho- 

UlllOn  with  science  had  from  about  370-304  a  beauti-      doxy. 

ful  spring-time,  followed,  however,  by  destructive 

storms,  or,  rather,  by  the  blight  of  traditionalism. 

Men  dreamed  the  dream  of  an  eternal  union  between 


262        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Political 
Events 
Favor 

Homo- 
usios. 


V 


R 


Gratian 

Succeeds 

Valentin- 

ian. 


Theodo- 
sius  Be- 
comes Em- 
peror 
in    Orient. 


faith  and  science.  True,  it  was  not  undisturbed. 
The  old-faith  orthodoxy  in  the  Occident  and  in  An- 
tioch  remained  distrustful,  even  repellent.  In  Anti- 
och  a  kind  of  schism  broke  out  between  the  old  and 
the  new  scientific  orthodoxy.  The  latter  considered 
the  former  Sabellian,  although  it  could  hardly  shake 
off  the  suspicion  of  teaching  "homoiusian". 

But  not  only  did  science  prepare  the  victory  for 
the  homousios,  the  course  of  the  world's  events  did 
so  as  well.  In  Valens  the  Orient  obtained  a  power- 
ful Arian  emperor.  The  orthodox  and  homoiu- 
sians  had  to  go  into  exile,  and  they  drew  nearer  to 
each  other.  They  again  sought  support  from  the 
orthodox  West.  Liberius  of  Rome  was  not  disin- 
clined, and  Basilius  of  Caesarea  was  after  370  in  vig- 
orous activity.  Yet  Damascus  of  Rome  returned  to 
the  old  harsh  standpoint,  and  it  needed  several 
synods  (in  the  seventies)  to  convince  him  of  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  new  orthodox  Orientals.  These  at 
last  signed  (at  Antioch  379)  the  formulas  of  faith  of 
Damascus,  without,  however,  being  able  to  settle  the 
schism  in  Antioch.  But  the  subscription  was  already 
a  sequence  of  the  world-historical  events  that  in  the 
year  375  in  the  West  the  youthful  Gratian,  wholly 
devoted  to  the  Church  and  orthodoxy  (Damascus, 
Ambrose)  succeeded  the  tolerant  Valentinian,  and 
after  378  became  sole  ruler  (Valens  died  at  Adri- 
anople  contending  against  the  Goths).  In  the  year 
379  the  orthodox  Spaniard  Theodosius  was  elevated 
to  be  co-regent  and  emperor  of  the  Orient.     He  was 


nople. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     26',] 

determined  to  govern  the  Church  like  Constantius, 
but  in  the  sense  of  strict  Occidental  orthodoxy :  The 
celebrated  edict  of  Thessalonica  showed  this  in  the 
year  380  (issued  by  the  emperor  immediately  after 
his  baptism  *).  He  deprived  the  Arians  of  all  their 
churches  in  Constantinople  and  forbade  the  heretics 
in  general  to  worship  in  the  cities.  But  he  soon  per- 
ceived that  he  could  rule  in  the  Orient  only  with 
Oriental  orthodoxy,  that  he  dare  not  apply  the  severe 
standard  of  the  West,  and  that  he  must  win  half- 
friends  entirely  over.  He  called,  therefore,  in  381  an 
Oriental  council  at  the  capital  and  appointed  as  pre-  constant? 
siding  officer  Meletius,  that  is,  the  leader  of  the  new 
orthodox  party  in  Antioch.  Thereby  he  of  course 
gave  offence  to  the  Occidentals  and  Egyptians,  but 
secured  to  himself  the  Cappadocians  and  the  Asia 
Minor  theologians.  At  the  synod  the  contrast  was 
so  strongly  expressed  that  a  rupture  was  near  at 
hand  (the  new  presiding  officer,  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  had  to  resign).  But  finally  the  synod  (150  bish- 
ops) proclaimed  the  Nicene  doctrine  sans  phrase,  the 
complete  homoousion  of  the  three  Persons,  and  also 
expelled  the  Macedonians.  In  fact,  however,  "equal- 
ity of  being  "  conquered  in  the  sense  of  "  equality  of  es- 

*"Cunctos  populos  .  .  .  in  tali  volumus  religione  versari,  quam  di- 
vinum Petrum  apostolum  tradidisse  Romanis  religio  usque  ad  nunc  ab  ij)so 
insinuata  declarat  quamque  pontificem  Damasum  sequi  claret  et  Petrum 
Alexandrine  episcopum  virum  apostolicae  sanctitatis,  hoc  est,  ut  secundum 
apostolicam  disciplinam  evangelicamque  doctrinam  patris  et  filii  et 
spiritus  sancti  unam  deitatem  sub  pari  maiestate  et  sub  pia  trinitate 
credamus.  Hanc  legem  sequentes  Christianorum  catholicorum  nomen 
iubemus  amplecti,  reliquos  vero  dementes  vesanosque  iudicantes  hozretici 
dogmatis  infamiam  sustinere,  divina  primum  vindicta,  post  etiam  motus 
nostri,  quern  ex  ccelesti  arbitrio  sumpserimus,  ultione  plectendos". 


264        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Creed   of 
Constanti- 
nople. 


Ecclesias- 
tical 
Legend- 
Making. 


sence",  not  unity  of  essence.  But  the  symbol,  which, 
since  about  450  in  the  Orient  and  530  in  the  Occident, 
is  considered  to  be  that  of  this  synod  and  obtained  the 
highest  consideration  in  the  Church  and  which  has 
supplanted  the  Nicene  as  being  only  a  mere  nominal 
enlargement  of  it,  is  not  the  symbol  of  this  synod, 
which,  moreover,  was  only  by  a  quid  pro  quo  after- 
ward stamped  as  ecumenical.  The  so-called  Con- 
stantinopolitan  creed  is  older;  it  is  the  baptismal 
symbol  of  Jerusalem,  probably  edited  by  Cyril  so.on 
after  362  when  he  accomplished  his  transition  from 
semi-Arianism  to  the  c0 fioovatos.  In  it  the  "  £*  ~> 
obffias  too  rtazpo?  "  is  wanting,  and  it  contains  a  formula 
about  the  Holy  Spirit  which  does  not  proclaim  the 
orthodox  doctrine,  but  avoids  the  question  at  issue 

(zu     XOptOVj   TO     £ä)07TOtOV)     TO    cX    TOO     TZCLTpuS    k'/.TZOpeUO fJ.SVOV f    TO 

trbv  TTOLTpl  xai   ului    ffovizpoaxovoufi&vov   xal    o~ovdo^a^ö/xevov   zd 

Xatfeav  dux.  t&v  -poyrjTwv) .  How  it  came  into  the  rec- 
ords of  the  synod  (through  Cyril?  Epiphanius?)  and 
how  it  afterwards  became  the  symbol  of  the  council 
is  quite  obscure.  Still  ecclesiastical  legend-making 
has  here  exercised  a  strange  justice  in  appending  to 
the  synod  of  the  newly  orthodox  bishops  a  symbol 
in  which  the  anti-Arian  anathemas  and  Nicene 
watch-words  are  wanting.  In  reality  under  the 
cover  of  the  ofwooaw?  men  indeed  continued  in  the 
Orient  in  a  kind  of  homoiusianism,  which  is  to 
this  day  orthodox  in  all  their  churches.* 

*  Concerning   the  symbol  see   my  article  in  Herzog's   R.  Encyclop.  2. 
Aufl. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     2G5 


The   Occident   was    highly   displeased    with    the    Occident 


course  of  the  synod,  since,  among  other  things,  it 
had  acknowledged  the  orthodoxy  of  men  who  in 
Rome  were  strongly  suspected.  Representations 
were  made,  a  schism  was  threatened.  But  the  Orient 
was  no  longer  disposed  to  hend  further  under  the 
dogmatic  rule  of  Rome,  and  Theodosius,  keeping  the 
two  halves  of  the  empire  separate,  remained  firm 
and  prudent,  and  avoided  consenting  to  a  general 
council,  which  Gratian  (Ambrose)  wished  to  call. 
In  the  j^ear  382  they  drew  nearer  together,  since  in 
Rome,  as  well  as  in  Constantinople,  synods  were 
contemporaneously  in  session,  and  since  these  showed 
themselves  more  conciliatory  regarding  personal 
questions — to  this  point  the  controversy  had  nar- 
rowed down  inasmuch  as  the  Antiochian  schism 
continued.  But,  above  all  this,  circumstance  greatly 
contributed  to  a  reconciliation;  the  spiritual  leader 
of  the  Occident,  Ambrose,  went  to  school  to  the 
science  of  the  Cappadocians  and  became  powerfully 
influenced  by  it. 

In  the  year  381  perhaps  nine- tenths  of  the  Orient 
was  Arian.  Theodosius  endeavored  to  frighten 
them,  later,  however,  also  to  win  them  (synod  of 
383  at  Constantinople ;  even  Eunomius  was  invited) . 
Bat  soon  he  abandoned  the  gentle  method  and  Am- 
brose seconded  him  in  the  West.  One  dare  assume 
that  most  of  the  Arian  and  semi-Arian  Greek  bish- 
ops did  submit ;  only  the  extreme  left  remained  firm 
(Eunomius) .  More  rapidly  than  Hellenism  did  Arian 


Displeased 

with 

Council. 


In  381 
Nine- 
Tenths  of 
Orient 
Arian. 


266        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

ism  die  out  among  the  Greeks.  True,  the  orthodox 
laymen,  always  conservative,  considered  the  ortho- 
dox formula  more  as  a  necessary  evil  and  an  inex- 
plicable mystery  than  as  an  expression  of  their  faith. 
The  victory  of  orthodoxy  was  a  triumph  of  priests 
and  theologians  over  the  indeed  deeply  rooted  faith 
of  the  people;  but  it  did  not  make  this  faith  any 
clearer. 

Supplement  :  The  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  of  the  trinity. 

Doctrine  of  i.  Since  the  early  days,  alongside  of  a  belief  in  the 
spirit.  Father  and  Son,  there  was  a  belief  in  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
but  what  the  latter  was,  or  what  significance  it  has, 
became  wholly  obscure  after  the  declining  of  Mon- 
tanism  and  the  retiring  of  the  combination  "  spiritus- 
ecclesia".  The  scientific  theology  of  the  apologists 
did,  in  general,  not  know  what  to  do  with  it,  and 
even  in  the  3d  century  the  majority  viewed  the  Holy 

irenaeus,    Spirit  as  a  power.     However,  alreadv  Irenseus  and 

Tertullian.  .  f  >  J 

Tertullian  tried  to  honor  it  as  a  divine  power  within 
the  Deity.  Tertullian  admitted  it  as  "  God  "  and  as 
"Person"  into  his  descending  but  consubstantial 
trinity  (filio  subiectus).  Now  the  Neo-Platonic 
speculation,  science,  also  found  three  Divine  hy- 
origen.  postases  necessar}'.  Origen  in  accordance  with  and 
following  the  Bible  took  the  Holy  Spirit  into  his 
theology  as  the  third  constant  Being ;  to  be  sure  as  a 
creature  subordinate  to  the  Son,  governing  the  small- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     2G7 


est  sphere,  the  circle  of  the  sanctified.  The  manner 
of  disposing  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by 
Tertullian  and  Origen,  wholly  analogous  to  their 
treatment  of  the  Logos-doctrine,  shows  that  in  gen- 
eral there  did  not  exist  a  specific  Christian  interest 
in  this  point  of  doctrine.  That  Sabellius  also  was 
obliged  to  take  into  view  the  Holy  Spirit  is  only  a 
proof  that  the  claims  of  the  general  scientific  doctrine 
of  the  trinity  and  of  the  Biblical  formulas  could  no 
longer  be  passed  over. 

Nevertheless  within  the  churches  and  among  the 
majority  of  the  bishops  no  notice  was  taken  of  these 
scholarly  advances,  even  by  the  beginning  of  the  4th 
century ;  the  ISTicene  creed  itself  merely  gives  a  place 
to  the  belief  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  without  addition  or 
explanation.  Athanasius  during  the  first  decade  never 
thought  of  it.  Whoever  considered  it  Divine  in  the 
full  sense  deemed  it  a  power ;  he  who  conceived  it  as 
personal,  took  it  for  something  quite  subordinate :  In 
fact  it  was  really  only  a  word  and  it  remained  such 
within  the  trinity  even  afterward. 

The  Arians  solicited  the  farther  formulation  of  the 
doctrine,  since,  by  the  concession  of  the  inferiority 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  were  able  to  support  easily 
the  subordination  of  the  Son.  Exactly  for  this  rea- 
son, however,  the  orthodox  became  thoughtful. 
Athanasius,  after  about  358,  gave  his  attention  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  never  wavered  a  moment  in  re- 
gard to  the  formula :  Since  he  must  be  worshipped, 
he  is  #eo?  6fioouffto$  like  the  Son,  and  belongs  in  no 


Sabellius. 


Church 
Did  Not 
Take  up 
Question 

till  4th 
Century. 


Arians 

Discuss 

Question. 


Athanasius 
then  Also. 


2G8        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

inserted  in  sense  to  the  world  (epp.  ad  Serap.).     At  the  synod 

Nicene  .    . 

creed.  0f  Alexandria  this  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Nicene  creed :  He 
who  denies  it  is  a  hypocritical  Arian  (the  attempts, 
it  is  true,  to  discriminate  between  the  agenc}^  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  that  of  the  Son,  remained  empty 
words) .  But  thus  strongly  did  the  Occident  agree 
to  this  formula — in  the  Orient  not  only  the  Arians 
but  also  the  semi- Arians  saw  in  it  a  manifest  inno- 
vation ;  even  those  who  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Son 
accepted  the  homousios  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
novum,  and  took  under  Macedonius,  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople, a  firm  stand.  Yet  more — even  the  Cap- 
padocians,  although  they  countenanced  the  formula, 
and  confessed  the  lack  of  all  tangible  tradition,  ad- 
vised the  greatest  caution  and  considered  it  necessary 
to  keep  back  the  formula  at  first  as  a  mystery,  ap- 
pealing to  the  fact  that  it  was  indeed  sustained  only 
by  a  Tzapddoais  aypaipos.  In  their  embarrassment  in  as- 
signing to  the  Holy  Spirit  a  proper  kind  of  being  in 
relation  to  the  Father,  they  decided  to  attribute  to 
him,  according  to  John,  the  eternal  £x7rep<{us  and  h.-op- 
^orcir    eUfTt?.     But  after  362  the  theologians  in  the  Occident 

Doctrine  .     ..    _      . 

on  orient,  were  mdeiatigable  in  imposing  upon  the  half-won 
Oriental  brethren  the  Holy  Spirit  as  #£o?  ößooofjco^, 
and,  in  union  with  the  Cappadocians,  they  succeeded. 
It  is  true  that  still  in  the  year  381  the  Macedonians 
(pneumatomachoi)  were  invited  to  the  synod,  but 
only  to  hear  their  condemnation  and  to  be  expelled. 
The  anathemas  of  Damascus  strengthened  the  situa- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     269 

tion.  Henceforth  one  was  no  longer  permitted  to 
teach  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  subordinate  to  the  Son ; 
indeed,  since  to  the  Greek  the  Father  remained  the 
root  of  the  Deity,  the  homousios  of  the  Spirit  seemed 
safely  secured  only  when  he  is  traced  back  to  the 
Father  alone,  the  Son  thereby  not  being  taken  at  all 
into  account. 

2.  The  Cappadocians,  and  before  them  their  great  c?aSM)oc- 
teacher  Apollinaris,  established  the  orthodox  doctrine  Trinity. 
of  the  trinity  (vid.  page  260) :  One  Divine  essence 
in  three  Subjects,  the  equal  nature  of  which  contained 
in  their  consubstantiality  is  distinctly  stamped  in 
their  qualities  and  activities;  their  differences  in  the 
characteristics  of  their  mode  of  being ;  but  the  Father 
alone  is  afcwv,  the  two  others  ahiatd^  yet  not  as  the 
world  is  (really  Tertullian  had  already  used  the  for- 
mulas "  nature  "  and  "  person  "  ;  to  him,  however,  the 
trinity  was  still  entirely  a  trinity  of  revelation,  not 
of  immanence).  By  means  of  the  trinity,  so  they 
now  said,  Christianity  is  distinguished  from  the 
pagan  polytheism  and  the  "stark"  Jewish  mono- 
theism. 

Ever  since  the  appearance  of  the  homoiusians,  re-  DoctrSe  of 

Trinity 

gard  for  Christology  exerted  in  the  Orient  an  influ-  Has  subor- 
dination 

ence  upon  the  establishment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Element, 
trinity  (there  also  nature  and  person ;  ußota>j±a  origi- 
nated there,  and  also  the  turning  to  account  of  the 
analogy  of  the  conceptions  "  humanity  "  and  "  Adam  " 
in  their  relation  to  the  individual  man.)  A  subor- 
dination and  Aristotelian  element  remained  in  the 


270       OUTLINES  OF   THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

trinity-doctrine  of  Oriental  orthodoxy,  and  in  the 
later  Christological  contest  the  latter  was  drawn  into 
sympathy  with  it  (however  not  strongly ;  for  it  had 
grown  already  too  stubborn) .  A  few  Apollinarian 
monophysites  worked  after  530  upon  the  conceptions 
"  nature  "  and  "  person  "  in  Christology  in  an  Aristo- 
telian way,  and  thus  also  arrived  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  trinity  at  tritheism  or  at  modalism  (<pu<ri$  = 
brJ>6zo.Gir,  Askusnages,  Johannes  Philoponus,  Peter  of 
Kallinico;  against  these  Leon ti  us  of  Byzantium  and 
John  of  Damascus).  The  latter,  in  opposition  to  tri- 
theism, gave  to  the  dogma  of  the  trinity  a  turn  ap- 
proaching the  Occidental  conception  (the  äys^r^ia  is 
formally  declared  equivalent  to  the  yevvyffia,  the  & 
äUrjXois  of  the  three  Persons  is  strongly  emphasized, 
thereby  the  -zpr/üitn^is,  but  not  aovaXoHpij  and  eupyupcrcs ; 
the  difference  existing  only  for  the  liavoia) ;  this  con- 
ception, however,  remained  without  effect,  since  in 
the  most  decisive  point  it  allowed  the  fine  subordina- 
tionism  to  continue :  John  also  taught  that  the  Spirit 
proceedeth  aJone  from  the  Father  {i.e.  through  the 
Son).  The  Father,  therefore,  remains  the  äpxv  of  the 
Deity.  Consequently  it  is  one  spiritual  picture  which 
anSocci-  the  Orient,  and  again  another  which  the  Occident, 
nations  formed  of  the  trinity;  in  the  former  the  Father  re- 
mained the  root  of  the  two  ainard  ;  the  full  reciproc- 
ity of  all  three  Persons  appeared  to  the  Orientals  to 
jeopardize  the  monarchy,  and  especially  the  deduc- 
tion of  the  Spirit  from  the  Son  to  jeopardize  the 
homousion.     Here  Photius   (867)   struck  in,  search- 


Dissimilar. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     271 

« 

ing  for  a  dogmatic  point  of  dispute,  and  reproached  ^'j; 
the  Occidentals,  who  taught  the  immanente  p?'0-  prSceSo. 
cessio  of  the  Spirit  from  the  Father  and  Son,  with 
innovations,  even  with  Manichsean  dualism,  and 
heightened  this  reproach  with  the  still  severer  charge 
of  falsifying  the  holy  symbol  of  Constantinople  by 
the  addition  of  "  filioque  ".  This  word  was  really  an 
innovation  therein  that  had  originated  in  Spain.  A 
contest  broke  out  which  has  never  been  settled,  and  tween  East 

and   West : 

in  which  to  the  Greek  even  the  "  Sta  zoo  oloo  "  became  Filioque. 
suspicious.  The  Occidentals,  however,  were  obliged 
to  cling  to  their  doctrine,  because,  according  to  their 
spiritual  picture  of  the  trinity,  they  found  the  true 
faith  expressed  only  in  the  full  unity,  therefore  also 
only  in  the  full  reciprocity  of  the  Persons.  The 
Greeks  did  not  understand  this,  because  secretly  they 
always  remained  cosmologically  interested,  just  as 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  under  incessant  scientific 
treatment,  has  remained  the  vehicle  which  the  phi- 
losophy of  antiquity  has  handed  down  to  the  Slavic 
and  Germanic  nations:  It  contains  the  Christian 
idea  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  and  the  testa- 
ment of  the  ancient  philosophy  in  a  most  peculiar 
mixture. 

In  the  Occident  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  had  not  D<S:?rfnenof 
as  a  rule  been  treated  as  an  object  of  speculation.  The 
unity  was  the  safest  thing,  discrimination  between 
substance  and  person  was  understood  more  in  the 
sense  of  a  (through  the  jurisprudence)  current  formal 
distinction.     Augustine  in  his  great  work,  "  de  tritt- 


272        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

itate  ",  intended  to  give  expression  to  this  conception 
of  the  trinity  by  means  of  (Neo-Platonic)  science, 
but  he  was  guided  also  by  his  religious  consciousness 
which  knew  only  one  God.*  The  consequence  was 
a  complete  obliteration  of  every  remnant  of  subordina- 
tion! sm,  the  changing  of  the  Persons  into  relations 
(the  old  Occidental  modalism  merely  veiled) ;  but 
at  the  same  time  there  arose  such  a  mass  of  contra- 
dictory and  absurd  formulas  as  to  cause  a  shudder 
even  to  the  author  himself,  now  exulting  in  the  in- 
comprehensible and  now  skeptical  (the  three  together 
are  equal  to  one ;  the  absolute  simple  must  be  under- 
stood as  triple ;  the  Son  takes  an  active  part  in  his 
generation;  sunt  semper  invicem,  neuter  solus;  the 
economical  functions,  also,  are  never  to  be  thought 
of  as  separate — therefore:  dictum  est  " tres  per- 
sonae",  non  ut  illud  diceretur,  sed  ne  taceretur). 
This  confession  and  the  analogies  which  Augustine 
makes  use  of  regarding  the  trinity  (they  are  alto- 
gether modalistic)  show  that  he  himself  never  could 
have  hit  upon  the  trinity,  if  he  had  not  been  bound 
to  tradition.  His  great  work,  in  which  naturally 
also  the  procession  of  the  Spirit  from  the  Father  and 
Son  is  emphasized — for  in  every  act  all  three  are 
concerned — became  the  high  school  for  the  technico- 
logical  cultivation  of  the  intellect  and  the  mine  of 
scholastic  divinity  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Through 
Augustine,  first  the  Spanish  church,  then  others  also, 

*  Iu  regard  to  Augustine's  relation  to  the  establishment  of  the  Oriental 
doctrine  of  the  trinity,  see  Reuter,  Zeitschrift  f.  Kirchengesch.  V.  375  seq. 
and  VI.   155  seq. 


sianum. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.     273 

permitted  themselves  to  be  induced  to  proclaim  the 
filioque. 

The  paradoxical  formulas  of  the  Augustinian  doc-  FaT^xi~ 
trine  of  the  trinity,  which  deny  every  connection  Formuas- 
with  the  history  of  revelation  and  with  reason,  but 
possess  their  truth  in  the  endeavor  to  sustain  com- 
plete monotheism,  became  wide-spread  in  the  Occi- 
dent and  were  comprised  in  the  so-called  Symbolum  s^ana^ 
Athanasianum,  which  arose  gradually  during  the 
early  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  was  on  its  recep- 
tion (8th  to  9th  century)  proclaimed  as  holy  Church 
doctrine.*  "He  who  will  be  saved  must  believe 
them",  i.e.  must  submit  to  them.  In  the  Athanasian 
creed  as  a  symbol  stands  foremost  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  trinity  doctrine,  as  an  inwardly-to-be- 
adopted  thought  of  faith,  into  an  ecclesiastical 
law,  upon  the  observance  of  which  salvation  de- 
pends. With  Athanasius  the  o/xooOatu?  was  the  de- 
cisive thought  of  faith ;  with  the  Cappadocians  the 
intellectually  over-subtle  theological  dogma;  with 
the  later  Greeks  the  hallowed  relic ;  with  the  later 
Occidentals  the  ecclesiastical  law  which  demands 
obedience. 

*On  the  "  Athanasianum  "  see  Köllner,    Symbolik   I.  53  seq.  and  the 
works  of  Foulkes  (1871),  Swainson  (1875),  Ommaney  (1875),  Lumby  (1887). 

18 


274       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  PERFECT  EQUALITY  AS  TO 
NATURE  OF  THE  INCARNATE  SON  OF  GOD  AND 
HUMANITY. 

Sources :  The  fragments  of  Apollinaris,  the  writings  of 
Athanasius,  of  the  Cappadocians  and  of  the  Antiochians. 

Humanity.  The  question  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ  was  only 
preparatory  to  the  question  of  the  union  of  the  Divine 
and  human  in  Christ.  Into  this  problem  the  whole 
of  dogmatics  flowed.  Irenaeus,  and  afterward  Atha- 
nasius, had  established  the  Divinity  of  the  Redeem- 
er with  respect  to  redemption,  i.e.  upon  that  assump- 
tion. 

But  the  question  of  the  union  presupposed  not  only 
a  precise  conception  of  the  Divinity,  but  also  of  the 
humanity  of  the  Redeemer.  True,  in  the  gnostic 
contest  the  reality  of  the  <Tdp%  of  Christ  had  been 
secured  (Tertull.,  de  came  Christi);  yet  a  fine 
docetism  had  in  spite  of  it  continued  to  exist,  and 
that  not  only  with  the  Alexandrians  but  also  with 
all  teachers.  Scarcely  one  of  them  thought  of  a  per- 
fect human  self-consciousness,  and  not  a  single  one 
attributed  to  the  human  nature  of  Christ  all  the  limi- 
tations which  surround  our  nature.  Origen  cer- 
tainly— and  not  as  the  first — attributed  to  Christ  a 
human  soul  and  a  free  will ;  but  he  needed  a  connec- 
tion between  the  God-Logos  and  matter,  and  he  has 
shown  definitely  in  his  Christology — in  so  far  as  he 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     275 

did  not  separate  the  Jesus  and  the  Christ — that  the 
most  evident  docetism  remains  active  when  one 
conceives  the  *dp$,  because  wholly  material,  as  with- 
out quality  and  capable  of  every  attribute. 

With  the  Origenistic  theologians,  and  among  the     Theories 

About  in- 
Christian  people  generally,  existed  at  the  beginning   carnation. 

of  the  4th  century  the  most  varied  conceptions  re- 
garding the  incarnation  and  humanity  of  Christ. 
Only  a  few  thought  of  a  human  soul  and  many 
thought  of  the  flesh  of  Christ  as  heavenly,  or  as  a 
transformation  of  the  Logos,  or  as  a  vesture.  Crass 
docetic  conceptions  were  softened  by  Neo-Platonic 
speculative  ideas  (the  finiteness  a  moment  within 
the  unfolding  Deity  itself).  No  one  in  the  Orient 
really  thought  of  two  natures;  one  eternal  God- 
incarnate  nature,  one  nature  having  become  God- 
incarnate,  a  Divine  nature  having  been  changed  for 
a  time  into  human  nature,  a  Divine  nature  dwelling 
in  the  human,  i.e.  clothed  in  the  covering  of  human- 
ity— these  were  the  prevailing  conceptions,  and  the 
answers  were  just  as  confused  to  siifgle  questions 
(Was  the  flesh  born  of  Mary,  or  the  Logos  with  the   „Var.i.ons 

(^)u  est  ions. 

flesh?  Was  the  Christ  made  man,  or  did  he  assume 
human  nature?  How  much  can  be  wanting  to  this 
nature  and  it  still  be  considered  human?)  and  to  the 
Biblical  considerations  (Who  suffered?  Who  hun- 
gered? Who  died?  Who  acknowledged  his  igno- 
rance? The  God  or  the  man,  or  the  God-man? 
Or  in  reality  are  not  all  these  ttö&j  only  apparent,  i.e. 
economic?).     A  more  or  less  fine  docetism  was  also 


276        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Unity  of 
Person- 
ality 
Funda- 
mental. 


Apollina- 
ris. 


in  concreto  taught  in  the  Occident.  But  by  the 
side  of  it,  after  Tertullian  and  Novatians,  stood  upon 
the  basis  of  the  symbol  the  juristic  formula :  Two 
substances,  one  person.  This  formula,  as  though  it 
were  a  protection  and  boundary  thought,  was  never 
further  investigated ;  but  it  was  destined  to  become 
some  day  the  saving  phrase  in  the  conflicts  of  the 
Orient. 

The  unity  of  the  supernatural  personality  of  Christ 
was  here  the  common  starting-point.  How  to  pro- 
vide a  place  for  humanity  in  it  was  the  problem, 
which  in  its  sharpness  and  gravity  Apollinaris  of 
Laodicea  first  discerned.  The  Arians  had  given  the 
impulse,  since  they  conceived  the  humanity  of  Christ 
merely  as  <rdp£  in  order  to  express  the  full  unity  of 
the  personality  of  the  Redeemer  and  at  the  same 
time  to  be  able  to  attribute  to  their  half-divine  Logos 
the  limited  knowledge  and  capability  of  suffering 
found  in  the  Christ.  They  threw  it  up  to  the  ortho- 
dox, that  their  doctrine  leads  to  two  Sons  of  God, 
or  to  two  natures  (which  were  still  considered  iden- 
tical) .  Apollinaris  now  recognized  that  this  reproach 
was  justified ;  he  made  the  problem  of  his  theology : 
(1)  To  express  just  as  strict  a  unity  in  the  person  of 
Christ  as  Arianism  did  in  its  Logos  clothed  merely 
with  the  <?«/>£,  (2)  To  unite  with  it  the  full  humanity 
of  Christ.  Here  is  the  problem  which  occupied  the 
Church  of  the  3d  century,  and  indeed  Apollinaris  sur- 
veyed it  in  its  whole  range  as  the  chief  problem  of 
Christian  theology,  as  the  nucleus  of  all  expressions  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     277 

faith,  and  he  treated  it  accordingly  with  the  greatest 
ingenuity  and  with  a  dialectics  that  anticipated  all 
terminologies  of    the    future.     With   the  orthodox    £ril-icises 

°  Orthodox. 

(Athanasius)  he  found  fault,  because  they,  in  order 
to  escape  the  objections  of  the  Ar i ans,  and  in  spite 
of  their  better  intentions,  constantly  discriminated 
in  Christ  between  what  the  man  and  what  the  God 
did ;  thereby  is  the  duality  established  and  redemp- 
tion is  made  dependent  thereon ;  for  Christ  must  so 
have  been  made  man,  that  everything  which  is  valid 
of  humanity  is  also  valid  of  the  Deity  and  vice  versa 
(true,  Athanasius  never  used  the  expression  8öo  <puaei<$ 
like  Origen ;  but  he  was  obliged  against  his  will  to 
divide  the  unity  of  the  Myo<s  (rapxwftsls  in  its  applica- 
tion). He  censured  the  Arians  because  they  also 
take  away  the  comfort  of  redemption  in  so  far  as 
Christ  did  not  assume  entire  humanity,  but  only  the 
flesh.  He  himself,  holding  fast  to  the  idea  of  unity 
as  to  a  rudder,  but  not  rejoicing  like  an  Aristotelian 
in  the  mystery  of  the  faith,  as  did  Athanasius,  estab- 
lished the  doctrine  that  the  God- Logos  had  taken 
unto  himself  human  flesh  and  a  human  soul  (which 
constitute  human  nature  as  nature) ,  but  not  a  human 
Logos,  i.e. — as  we  should  now  express  it — not  that 
which  in  man  constitutes  the  (individual)  person, 
therefore  not  free  will.  With  the  thus-constituted 
human  nature,  however,  the  Logos  was  able  to  fuse 
into  a  complete  unity,  because  there  never  existed 
two  subjects;  for  the  rocks  which  Apollinaris  had 
recognized  as  dangerous  were : 


Also 
Arians. 


278       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

(1)  The  idea  of_two  Sons,  i.e.  the  separating  of 
the  man  and  the  God,  the  Jesus  and  the  Christ  ("  two 
natures  are  two  Sons"), 

(2)  The  conception  that  Jesus  was   an   avftpwxos 

(3)  The  idea  that  he  had  a  free,  changeable  nature. 
The  subject  must  be  removed  from   the   human 

nature  of  Christ,  otherwise  one  would  arrive  at  a 
double-being  (h}rbrid,  minotaur) ;  whereas  his  concep- 
tion renders  the  pio.  <p(><jt$  zoo  Xöyoo  ffe<rapx(op.4vTj  clear, 
proveshis    This  Apollinaris  proved  soteriologically   (what  the 
fcaieiy,°Bib-  man  did  God  must  have  done  and  suffered,  other- 
specuia-     wise  the  same  has  no  power  to  save :  dv&pdtxou  Mvaro? 

tively. 

oo  xarapysT  rov  Mvarov ;  the  Deity  became  through  Christ 
the  vol)?  and  X6yo<s  of  the  entire  humanity ;  the  human 
nature  became  through  Christ  the  trdpg  of  the  Deity) , 
Biblically — he  was  a  very  able  exegete — and  specula- 
tively (the  human  nature  is  always  the  thing  moved, 
the  Divine  is  the  mover ;  this  relationship  comes  in 
the  Myos  aapxa>$ei$  to  its  perfect  development  and 
manifestation;  Christ  is  the  heavenly  Adam,  who 
consequently  possesses  incarnation  potentially ;  in  a 
hidden  way  he  always  was  »od?  eWa^xo?;  his  flesh  is 
ofiooofftos  to  his  Divinity,  because  he  was  fitted  for 
incarnation ;  therefore  is  the  incarnation  in  no  way 
accidental  and  differs  from  all  mere  inspiration ;  the 
Logos  is  always  Mediator — p.ea6nq<s — between  Deity 
and  humanity ;  however,  one  does  not  know  how  far 
Apollinaris  went  here) . 
T^Sne.       If  the  mystery  two  =  one  (see  the  parallel  to  the 


1MB 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.     279 


mystery,  three  =  one)  is  at  all  to  be  described,  then 
the  doctrine  of  Apollinaris,  measured  by  the  presup- 
positions and  aims  of  the  Greek  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity as  religion,  is  perfect.  For  this  reason,  too, 
he  found  faithful  disciples,  and  all  monophysites, 
yes,  even  the  pious  Greek  orthodox  are  at  the  bottom 
Apollinarists :  The  acceptance  of  an  individual  human 
personality  in  Christ  does  away  with  his  power  as 
Redeemer,  just  as  the  idea  of  two  unmixed  natures 
robs  the  incarnation  of  its  effect.  For  that  reason 
Apollinaris  struck  out  the  human  voD?  like  all  Greek 
believers  before  and  after  him — he,  however,  openly 
and  energetically. 

But  the  demand  for  a  complete  human  nature  once    sypod  of 

■*■  Alexan- 

proclaimed  could  no  longer  be  passed  over  in  silence :  ipoiiina- 
One  could  still  say  according  to  Apollinaris,  that  secedes. 
the  human  voug  would  not  be  saved;  the  doctrine 
of  God  also  appeared  to  totter,  if  God  was  made 
to  have  suffered.  Therefore  the  full  humanity  was 
already  acknowledged  at  the  Synod  of  Alexandria, 
362,  and  the  Cappadocians  rose  against  their  revered 
teacher,  who  was  obliged  (375)  to  withdraw  from  the 
Church,  but  formed  a  church  of  his  own ;  the  West 
also  condemned  him.  The  full  homousios  of  Christ 
with  humanity  was  exalted  to  a  doctrine.  Certainly 
the  gospel  reports  had  a  part  therein ;  but  that  which 
the  Cappadocians  were  able  to  set  up  in  opposition 
to  Apollinaris  were  only  wretched  formulas,  full 
of  contradictions :  There  are  two  natures,  and  yet 
only  one ;  there  are  not  two  Sons,  but  the  Divinity 


The  Cappa- 

docian 
Formulas. 


280        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

acts  in  Christ  in  one  way,  the  humanity  in  another ; 
Christ  had  human  freedom,  but  acted  under  Divine 
necessity.  In  reality  the  Cappadocians  thought  like 
Apollinaris,  but  they  had  to  make  a  place  for  the 
"  perfect  man",  while  the  Greek  piety  did  not  de- 
mand this  consideration.  The  sovereignty  of  faith 
had  dictated  the  doctrine  to  Apollinaris;  he  added 
to  the  Athanasian  oßoou<rio?  the  corresponding  Chris- 
tology;  like  Athanasius  he  hesitated  at  no  sacrifice 
for  the  sake  of  his  faith.  His  opponents,  however, 
in  upholding  the  full  humanity  (human  subject)  did 
after  all  a  great  service  to  the  Church  of  the  future. 
They  were  now  obliged  to  try  and  reconcile  the  con- 
tradictions (not  two  Sons,  and  yet  two  independent 
natures) .  In  what  form  that  was  to  issue  no  one 
knew  as  yet. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

CONTINUATION:  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  PERSONAL 
UNION  OF  THE  DIVINE  AND  HUMAN  NATURE  IN 
THE   INCARNATE    SON  OF   GOD. 

Sources :    The  writings  of  Cyril  and  of  the  Antiochians, 
the  acts  of  the  councils.,  Hef ele, Conciliengesch. ,  Bd.I.and  II. 

Nrnn°tr!f-n  *  ^ie  Nestorian  Controversy. — How  can  the 
complete  God  and  the  complete  man  be  united  in  one 
being?  The  most  zealous  opponents  of  Apollinaris 
were  his  compatriots,  and  in  part  also  his  philosoph- 
ical sympathizers,  the  Antiochians.  They  deduced 
from  the  formula,  "  complete  God  and  complete  man", 


Contro 
versy 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     281 


the  consequence  of  two  different  natures.  Diodorus 
of  Tarsus  and  above  all  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia, 
distinguished  for  their  sober  theology,  excellent  exe- 
gesis and  severe  asceticism,  were  thorough  Nicenes, 
but  they  at  the  same  time  rightly  recognized  that 
complete  humanity  without  freedom  and  changeable- 
ness  is  a  chimera ;  consequently  Deity  and  human- 
ity are  contrasted  and  cannot  by  any  means  be  fused 
into  one  (incapable  of  suffering,  capable  of  suffering) . 
In  accord  therewith  they  constructed  their  Chris- 
tology,  which  was  therefore  not  fashioned  according 
to  soteriological  conceptions,  but  rather  by  the  evan- 
gelical picture  of  Christ.  Christ  consists  of  two  sep- 
arate natures  (no  ivtoat?  4'U(7Uy!t) ;  the  God-Logos  as- 
sumed the  nature  of  an  individual  man,  that  is,  he 
dwelt  therein ;  this  indwelling  was  not  substantial, 
and  also  not  merely  inspirational,  but  xaräxdpw,  i.e. 
God  united  and  joined  (<ruvd<peta)  himself  to  the  man 
Jesus  in  an  especial  manner,  yet  analogous  to  his 
union  with  pious  souls.  The  Logos  dwelt  in  Christ 
as  in  a  temple;  his  human  nature  remained  substan- 
tially what  it  was ;  but  it  developed  itself  gradually 
to  a  perfect  condition  and  constancy.  The  union  was 
therefore  only  a  relative  one  (£va>ffts  ffjfentjf)  and  it 
was  in  the  beginning  only  relatively  perfect ;  it  is  in 
itself  a  moral  union ;  but  by  the  verification  and  ex- 
altation one  adorable  subject  was  finally  and  forever 
exhibited ifowp&w  tos  (poaets,  ivä  r^v  npo<rxüx7)<Tc;).  The- 
odore uses  the  later  formula :  "  Two  natures,  one  per- 
son "  ;  but  with  him  the  unity  of  the  person  is  merely 


Diodorus 
of  Tarsus 
and  Theo- 
dore of 
Mopsu- 
estia. 


Two 
Separate 
Natures. 


Two  Na- 
tures, One 
Person. 


282       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

one  of  names,  of  honor  and  adoration ;  in  no  sense  a 
substantial  unity.  He  has  quite  distinctly  two  per- 
sons, because  two  natures*  (person  =  nature)  and, 
besides,  for  believers  an  adorable  izpoewTzov.  Of  an 
incarnation,  therefore,  one  may  not  definitely  speak, 
but  only  of  an  assumption  of  the  man  on  the  part  of 
the  Logos.  The  functions  of  Jesus  Christ  are  to  be 
strictly  distributed  between  the  Deity  and  humanity. 
To  call  Mary  fteoröxos  is  absurd. 
AEntheosS  This  doctrine  is  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
Samosatians  only  by  the  assertion  of  the  personal- 
ity of  the  God-Logos  in  Christ.  In  truth  is  Jesus — 
invito  Theodoro — nevertheless  an  avti-ptitizois  ev&eog. 
That  the  Antiochians  contented  themselves  with 
this  was  a  consequence  of  their  rationalism.  How- 
ever deserving  of  acknowledgment  their  spiritual 
conception  of  the  problem  is,  still  they  were  farther 
removed  from  the  conception  of  redemption  as  a 
new  birth  and  as  forgiveness  of  sin,  than  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  realistic  idea  of  redemption.  They 
knew  of  a  Perfecter  of  humanity  who  conducts  it 
through  knowledge  and  asceticism  unto  a  new  xard- 
araffis,  but  they  knew  nothing  of  a  Restorer.  But 
since  they  did  not  docetically  explain  away,  or  by 
accommodation  set  forth  the  human  qualities  of 
Christ,  they  held  before  the  Church  the  picture  of  the 
historical  Christ,  at  a  time  when  the  Church  was 
obliged  to  depart  in  its  formulas  of  doctrine  farther 
and  farther  from  the  same.  True,  a  picture  could 
have  no  great  effect  in  which  they  emphasized  the 


can- 

dria. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     283 

points  of  empty  freedom  and  capacity  of  suffering 
equally  with  wisdom  and  asceticism. 

Their  opponents,  the  Alexandrians,  relied  upon  cjrii 
the  tradition  which  embarrassed  the  Antiochians, 
that  Christ  possessed  the  Divine  physis  and  that  he 
really  became  man;  their  deductions  lacked  till  431, 
and  even  later,  apprehensible  clearness;  but  that 
could  not  be  otherwise ;  and  their  faith  was  all  the 
surer.  C}Tril  of  Alexandria,  in  many  respects  de- 
serving of  little  esteem,  strove  for  the  fundamental 
idea  of  piety,  like  Athanasius,  and  had  tradition  on 
his  side.  This  piety  demanded  only  a  strong  and 
sure  declaration  of  the  mystery,  nothing  more  Xfftat7:V 
Ttpo(T7.u\>zi<jftu>  to  appTjzov).  Upon  the  theor 'etical  state- 
ment of  the  faith  Cyril  never  wasted  many  words ; 
but  he  was  immediately  in  danger  of  transgressing 
the  limits  of  his  idea  of  faith,  whenever  he  sought 
to  explain  the  mystery,  and  his  terminology  was  in- 
definite. His  faith  did  not  proceed  from  the  histor-  T1}ncar-°f 
ical  Christ,  but  from  the  God  who  was  made  man. 
This  God  was  incorporated  in  the  complete  human 
nature,  and  yet  he  remained  the  same.  He  did  not 
transform  himself,  but  he  took  humanity  into  the 
unity  of  his  being,  without  losing  any  of  the  latter. 
He  was  the  same  afterwards  as  before,  the  one  sub- 
ject. What  the  body  suffered,  he  suffered.  There- 
fore Cyril  used  with  special  preference  the  following 
phrase\:  els  xal  6  a»r6?,  namely,  the  God-Logos^  töiav 
Tzoielv  TTJv  ffdpxa  oixovofitxtog.  fisßivjjxev  otcep  qv,  ix  duo  (/'offecov 
els",  Goviksuais  duo  (püaswv  xaff  ivwaiv  ädtd<nza<rvov  ä<Tuv%urw$ 


nation. 


284        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

xai  arpirtTco?.      Hence :   ivtooi?  (puoty.rj   (xatf  vizooxaotv  and 

ßia  <pb<ns  xob  #eoo  Xöyou  osfrapxw/jLivrj) .  The  difference  be- 
tween <pbffis  and  birooxaot?  Cyril  hardly  touched  upon. 
Yet  he  never  said  ixdbo  b-ooxdoewv,  or  evtoocs  zarä  (pbavj. 

With  him  y>uot$  and  01*00x0.01$  coincide  as  regards  the 
Divine  nature ;  as  regards  the  human  nature  they  do 
not.  He  rejected  the  idea  that  Christ  became  an 
individual  man.,  although  he  acknowledged  all  the 
constituents  of  humanity  in  Christ.  Christ  is  the 
Assumes  Logos  which  has  assumed  human  nature;  only  thus 
Natu?en  can  he  be  the  Redeemer.  Before  the  incarnation 
there  were,  according  to  Cyril,  two  natures,  there- 
after only  one,  to  wit :  The  God-incarnate,  which  is 
distinguished  as  fcwpta  1*0*1%.  The  Deity's  capacity 
for  suffering  is,  to  be  sure,  not  the  consequence  of 
the  unity;  but  the  Logos  suffers  in  his  own  flesh.« 
Nevertheless  he  is  #eo?  <rzaupw%($  and  Mary  is  aea&lx&s. 
For  that  reason,  also,  can  the  odp%  Christi  in  the 
eucharist  give  Divine  life ;  for  the  same  is  filled  with 
the  Deity. 
SyMwfo-1"  ^kis  conception  is  at  the  bottom  pure  monophys- 
physitic.  itism ;  but  it  does  not  wish  to  be  so,  and,  in  assert- 
ing the  humanity  of  Christ  as  not  to  be  explained 
away,  it  guards  against  the  consequent  monophys- 
itic  formula.  Cyril  was  really  orthodox,  that  is,  he 
taught  what  lay  as  a  consequent  in  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine respecting  Christ.  But  the  contradiction  is 
apparent — both  natures  were  to  be  present,  una- 
bridged and  unmixed,  inclusive  of  a  human  Logos, 
and  yet  there  should  be  but  one  God-incarnate  na- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     285 

I 

ture,  and  the  human  part  is  subjectless.  It  is  also 
apparent  that  the  picture  of  the  real  Christ  cannot  \ 
j  be  maintained  by  this  view :  Docetic  explanations 
must  necessarily  be  admitted* (i.e.  accommodation). 
I  But  this  doctrine  is  after  all  more  valuable  than 
that  of  the  Chalcedon  creed,  because  by  it  faith  can 
make  it  clear  to  itself  that  Christ  assumed  the  com- 
plete human  nature,  substantially  united  it  with 
himself  and  elevated  it  to  the  Divine.*  The  contro- 
versy broke  out  in  Constantinople  through  the  vain, 
blustering,  but  not  ignoble  bishop  Nestorius  (428),  Nestorius- 
who,  hated  by  the  Alexandrians  as  an  Antiochian 
and  envied  for  his  chair,  stirred  up  hatred  impru- 
dently by  his  sermons  and  by  his  attacks  upon  those 
favoring  Cyril,  and  specially  by  branding  the  word 
öeuTöxo?  and  the  like  as  heathenish  fables.  He  sought 
now  to  eradicate  the  "  rottenness  of  Arius  and  Apol- 
linaris"  ;  as  a  Christologian,  however,  he  by  no  means 
stood  at  the  extreme  left  of  orthodoxy,  like  Theodore. 
He  stirred  up  an  agitation  in  the  capital ;  the  monks 
and  the  imperial  ladies  were  against  him,  and  Cyril 
now  took  a  hand  in  it.  The  formulas  which  each 
used  did  not  sound  very  differently — Nestorius  him- 
self was  rather  inclined  to  agree,  with  reservations, 
to  the  üsoToxo? ;  but  behind  the  formulas  there  lay  a 
deep  dogmatic  and  ecclesiastico-political  contrast. 
Cyril  fought  for  the  one  God-incarnate  nature,  and 
for  primacy  in  the  Orient.  He  was  able  to  gain  over 
for  himself  the  Roman  bishop,  to  whom  at  that  time 
the  bishop  of  Constantinople  seemed  a  more  power- 


286        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

cceiestius.  fuj  riVal  than  the  one  of  Alexandria.  Coelestius, 
also  personally  irritated  at  Nestorius,  repudiated  his 
own  Christological  view  which  approached  very 
nearly  to  that  of  Nestorius,  joined  the  anathematiza- 
tion of  Cyril  and  demanded  of  Nestorius  a  recanta- 
tion. Cyril,  hurling  counter-anathemas  against 
Nestorius,  compelled  the  calling  of  a  general  council 
by  the  emperor  who  favored  him.     But  he  was  able 

council  of  to  direct  the  general  council  at  Ephesus   (431)  in 

Ephesus.  ö  . 

such  a  manner,  that  from  the  beginning  it  began  to 
split.  The  decrees  of  the  Egyptian-Roman  party 
were  recognized  afterwards  as  the  decrees  of  the 
council,  while  the  emperor  did  not  originally  recog- 
nize either  these,  or  the  decrees  of  the  Antiochian 
party.  Cyril  allowed  no  new  symbol  to  be  estab- 
lished, but  caused  the  deposition  of  Nestorius  and  the 
declaration  of  his  own  doctrine  as  orthodox.  Con- 
trarywise  the  Council  which  was  held  by  the  Anti- 
ochian sympathizers  deposed  Cyril.  The  emperor 
at  first  confirmed  both  depositions  and  as  regards 
Nestorius    Nestorius  the  matter  rested  there.     He  died  in  exile. 

Dies  in 

But  Cyril,  influential  at  court,  succeeded  in  main- 
taining himself,  and  in  order  not  to  lose  his  influ- 
ence, he  even  formed  in  the  year  433  a  union  with 
the  Antiochians,  whose  ambiguous  creed  stood,  ac- 
cording to  the  text,  nearer  to  the  Antiochian  theol- 
ogy. Yet  for  that  very  reason  Cyril  remained  master 
of  the  situation,  and  he  knew  how  to  strengthen  more 
and  more  the  Alexandrian  doctrine  and  the  ecclesias- 
tical domination. 


Exile. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     287 

2.  The  Eutychian  Controversy  (vid.  Mansi,  Acts  ^JntrS11 
of  the  Councils,  VI. ,  VII.).— Cyril  died  in  the  year  versy- 
444,  and  there  were  people  in  his  own  party  who  had 
never  forgiven  the  union  of  433  which  he  made 
through  the  desire  to  rule.  Dioscuros  became  his  Dioscuros- 
successor ;  he  was  not  equal  to  him  and  yet  he  was 
not  unlike  him.  Dioscuros  endeavored  to  carry  out 
the  scheme  of  his  predecessor  in  the  chair  of  Alexan- 
dria, to  make  of  Egypt  a  domain,  to  rule  the  Church 
of  the  Orient  as  pope  and  to  actually  subject  to  him- 
self emperor  and  state.  Already  Theophilus  and 
Cyril  had  relied  upon  the  monks  and  the  masses  in 
this  matter,  and  also  upon  the  Roman  bishop,  who 
had  an  equal  interest  in  suppressing  the  bishop  of 
Constantinople.  They  had,  furthermore,  relaxed  the 
union  with  Greek  science  (contest  against  Origen- 
ism),  in  order  not  to  displease  the  great  power  of 
the  age,  pious  barbarism.  Dioscuros  seemed  to 
really  gain  his  object  under  the  weak  emperor  The- 
odosius  II.  (council  of  Ephesus,  449) ;  but  close  upon 
the  greatest  victory  followed  the  catastrophe.  This 
was  brought  about  by  the  powerful  empress  Pulcheria,    Empress 

J.  uiciicriä. 

and  her  consort  Marcian,  who  recalled  to  mind  once 
more  the  Byzantine  state-idea  of  ruling  the  Church, 
and  through  Leo  I.,  who  at  the  decisive  moment  LeoL 
relinquished  the  traditional  policy  of  the  Roman 
chair  to  assist  Alexandria  against  Constantinople, 
made  common  cause  with  the  emperor  and  bishop 
of  the  capital  and  overthrew  Dioscuros.  But  at  the 
moment  of  his  fall,  the  opposition  between  the  hith- 


288        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

erto  united  powers  (emperor  and  pope)  was  destined 
to  come  out.  Both  wanted  to  take  advantage  of  the 
victory.  The  emperor  was  not  willing  to  surrender 
the  Church  of  the  Orient  to  the  pope  (who  had  been 
called  upon  for  assistance),  although  he  set  up  the 
dogmatic  formula  of  the  pope  as  the  only  means  of 
saving  the  Oriental  Church ;  and  the  pope  could  not 
endure  that  the  patriarch  of  the  capital  should  sup- 
plant the  other  patriarchs  of  the  Orient,  that  this 
church  as  a  creature  of  the  emperor  should  be  at  the 
latter's  beck  and  call,  and  that  the  chair  should  be 
placed  on  a  level  with  that  of  St.  Peter's.  In  con- 
counciiof   sequence  of  the  Chalcedon  council  the  state  indeed 

Chalcedon.  rL 

momentarily  triumphed  over  the  Church,  but  in  giv- 
ing to  the  same  its  own  dogmatic  formula,  which  had 
more  than  half  the  faithful  against  it,  it  split  the 
empire,  laid  the  foundation  for  the  secession  of  large 
provinces,  south  and  north,  strengthened  its  most 
powerful  adversary,  the  bishop  of  Rome,  at  a  mo- 
ment when  by  the  fall  of  the  "West  Roman  empire 
the  latter  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Occident,  and 
thus  prepared  a  condition  of  affairs,  which  limited 
the  Byzantine  dominion  to  the  eastern  Mediterra- 
nean coast  provinces. 

These  are  the  general  circumstances  under  which 
the  Eutj'chian  controversy  occurred,  and  thereby 
is  declared  what  an  important  part  politics  had 
in  it. 
Eutyches.  Through  the  union  of  433  the  Christological  ques- 
tion had  already  become  stagnant.     According  to 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     289 

the  interpretation  of  the  formula,  everybody  could 
be  taken  for  a  heretic.  The  Alexandrian  doctrine, 
which  really  tallied  with  the  faith  of  the  Orientals, 
made  in  fact  more  and  more  progress  in  spite  of  the 
energetic  counter-efforts  of  the  honest  and  best-hated 
Theodore;  and  Dioscuros  carried  himself  like  a  chief 
bishop  over  Palestine  and  Syria.  The  emperor 
surrendered  the  Church  to  him  outright.  Dioscuros 
persecuted  the  Antiochian  sympathizers,  endeavored 
to  exterminate  the  phrase  "two  natures",  and  even 
allowed  creeds  to  pass  which  sounded  suspiciously 
Apollinaristic.  But  when  the  old  Archimandrite 
Eut}rches  in  Constantinople  expressed  his  Cyrillian 
Christology  in  terms  like  the  following :  "  My  God  is 
not  of  like  essence  with  us,  he  has  no  <ru>ßa  ä^p6r.oo^ 
but  a  <rwpa  wA±pd)-VMvS\  personal  opponents  (Domnus 
of  Antioch,  then  Eusebius  of  Dorylaeum)  took  this 
occasion  to  denounce  him  to  the  patriarch  Flavian, 
who,  himself  no  decided  Christologian,  profited  by 
the  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  an  ecclesiastic  favored 
by  the  court.  At  a  synod  in  Constantinople  (448)  de^^"  at 
Eutyches  was  condemned  as  a  Valentinian  and  nopfefm 
Apollinarist,  although  he  after  some  hesitation  ac- 
knowledged the  formula :  "  Out  of  two  natures,  one 
Christ".  From  both  sides,  the  court,  the  capital 
and  the  Roman  bishop  were  now  set  in  motion. 
Dioscuros  saw  that  the  moment  for  settling  the  ques- 
tion of  power  had  come,  but  not  less  did  Leo  I. 
While  the  former  obtained  from  the  emperor  the 

calling  of  a  council  and  was  being  equipped  for  it 

19 


290       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Leo's  Cele- 
brated 
Letter. 


Council  of 

Ephesus, 

449. 


with  unheard-of  sovereignty  as  the  true  pope,  the 
latter  now  saw — in  spite  of  the  decision  of  his  prede- 
cessor, Ccelestius,  in  favor  of  Cyril — in  Eutyches  the 
worst  heretic,  in  Flavian  his  dear,  persecuted  friend, 
and  sought  to  frustrate  the  council  by  numerous 
letters  to  influential  persons  and  he  wrote  to  Flavian 
the  celebrated  epistle,  in  which,  as  respects  Chris- 
tology,  he  veered  toward  the  Tertullian-Augustinian 
conception.  In  this  letter  the  doctrine  of  two  natures 
is  strictly  carried  out  i  ("  agit  utraque  forma  cum 
alt  er  ins  communione,  quod  proprium  est,  verbo 
seil,  operante  quod  verbi  est  et  came  exsequenti 
quod  carnis  est"),  and  the  old  Occidental,  juristic 
expedient  expounded,  that  one  must  believe  in 
one  Person,  which  has  two  separate  natures  (sub- 
stances) at  its  disposal, — an  expedient  which  is 
truly  neither  monophysitic  nor  Nestorian,  since  it 
sharply  distinguishes  between  the  Person  and  the 
two  natures,  and  therefore  really  introduces  three 
magnitudes ;  but  it  certainly  stands  nearer  to  Nesto- 
rianism  and  does  not  do  justice  to  the  decisive  inter- 
est of  faith,  but  excludes  every  concrete  form  of 
thought  and  consequently  satisfies  neither  piety  nor 
intellect.  Besides  this  Leo  knows  only  the  heresies 
of  docetism  and  Samosatianism.  Leo  certainly  ac- 
knowledges in  his  letters  the  interest  of  our  redemp- 
tion; but  he  gave  an  interpretation  which  Cyril 
would  have  strongly  repudiated. 

In  August  (440)  the  great  council  of  Ephesus  as- 
sembled under  Dioscuros'  direction.     Rome  was  at 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     291 

first  treated  as  non-existent,  then  humbled  in  the 
persons  of  its  legates,  who,  moreover,  acted  with 
uncertainty.  Dioscuros  put  through  the  resolution 
that  the  matter  must  stop  with  the  synods  of  Mcsea 
and  Ephesus  (431),  which  expressed  the  old  creed: 
"After  the  incarnation  there  exists  one  incarnate 
nature" ;  no  symbol  was  established ;  Eutyches  was  ^Instated, 
reinstated  and,  on  the  basis  of  the  Nicene  creed,  the 
chiefs  of  the  Antiochians ;  but  at  the  same  time  Fla- 
vian, Eusebius  of  Dorylaeum,  Theodoret,  and  Dom- 
nus  of  Antioch  were  deposed ;  in  short,  the  Church 
was  thoroughly  purified  from  "Nestorianism".  All 
this  was  done  with  almost  unanimity.  Two  years 
later  this  unanimity  was  declared  as  enforced  by 
many  bishops  who   had   taken    part    (latrocinium  niumEpke- 

.  •  sinura. 

JEphesuinm,  says  Leo).  Dioscuros  certainly,  with 
the  aid  of  his  fanatical  monks,  terrorized  the  synod, 
but  a  far  stronger  pressure  was  afterwards  necessary 
at  Chalcedon.  Dioscuros  in  reality  raised  the  faith  of 
the  Orient  to  a  fixed  standard,  and  the  incomparable 
victory  which  he  enjoyed  had,  unless  foreign  powers 
(the  state,  Rome)  should  interfere,  the  guarantee  of 
permanence.  But  Dioscuros  roused  against  himself 
the  pope  and  the  Byzantine  state-idea,  and  did  not 
calculate  upon  the  wide-spread  aversion  to  the  right 
wing  of  his  army,  the  masked  Apollinarists.  He 
rehabilitated  Eutyches,  without  expressly  condemn- 
ing the  doubtful  terms  which  he  and  his  followers 
habitually  used. 

s-\        l  i  t  \t-»ii        •  Marciau 

On  the  28th  of  July  (450)  Pulchena  and  Marcian    and  Leo. 


292       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

succeeded  Theodosius;  until  then  Leo  had  vainly 
endeavored  to  raise  opposition  to  the  council.  Now 
Marcian,  who  was  determined  to  break  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Alexandrian  bishops,  stood  in  need  of 
him.  Leo  desired  the  condemnation  of  Dioscuros 
and  the  acceptance  of  his  own  didactic  epistle  ivith- 
out  a  council;  but  the  emperor  was  obliged  to  in- 
sist upon  one,  in  order  to  bring  about  a  wholly  new 
order  of  things.  Such  a  one  could  succeed  only  if  a 
new  dogmatic  formula  were  established,  which  placed 
the  Egyptians  in  the  wrong  and  still  did  not  yield 
the  point  to  the  Antiochians.  Politics  counselled  the 
formula  of  the  Occident  (Leo's)  as  the  only  way  out. 

chafcedoSf  The  council  really  took  place  at  Chalcedon  in  451 ; 
to  the  pontificial  legates  were  conceded  the  places  of 
honor ;  Leo  had  instructed  them  to  derogate  nothing 
from  the  dignity  of  Rome.  The  greater  part  of  the 
500  to  600  bishops  were  like-minded  with  Cyril  and 
Dioscuros,  highly  opposed  to  all  Nestorianism,  hos- 
tile to  Theodoret;  but  the  emperor  dominated  the 
council.  It  was  settled  that  Dioscuros  must  be  de- 
posed and  a  dogmatic  formula  in  the  sense  of  Leo's  ac- 
cepted, since  the  decree  of  449  was  annulled  as  having 
been  "extorted".  But  it  was  just  as  sure  that  the 
memory  and  doctrine  of  Cyril  must  not  be  sacrificed. 

DepSed.8  Dioscuros  therefore  was  deposed  after  a  most  shame- 
ful process,  not  as  an  heretic,  but  on  account  of  his 
disobedience  and  irregularities.  The  majority  of 
the  bishops  disavowed  their  past  before  the  face  of 
the  imperial  commissioners  and  abandoned  Dioscuros 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     293 

and  the  decree  of  440;  but  only  by  false  representa- 
tions and  threats  did  the  bishops  allow  themselves  to 
be  induced  to  acknowledge  the  canon  of  Leo,  which 
every  Oriental  could  not  but  understand  as  Nesto- 
rian,  and  to  sanction  the  doctrine  that  also  after  the 
incarnation  there  were  two  natures  existent  in  Christ. 
Even  at  the  last  hour  it  was  attempted — although  in 
vain — to  exalt  to  a  dogma  a  merety  notional  distinc- 
tion between  the  natures.  At  the  5th  sitting  the  de- 
crees of  325,  381  and  431  were  confirmed  and  their 
sufficiency  acknowledged,  but  it  was  remarked,  that 
on  account  of  the  heretics  (who,  on  the  one  side,  re- 
jected the  &eoj6zo$  and,  on  the  other,  desired  to  intro- 
duce a  aoyyofTK;  and  y.f>d.<Ti?  of  the  natures,  "  irrationally 
inventing  only  one  nature  of  the  flesh  and  the  Deity 
and  considering  the  Divine  nature  as  capable  of 
suffering  ")  it  was  necessary  to  admit  the  letters  of 
C}rril  to  Nestorius  and  the  Orientals,  as  well  as  the    Letters  of 

Cyril  and 

letter   of  Leo.      The  declaration  reads :  rob?  duo  p.h     Leo  Ad- 
mitted. 

Tipo  r^9  lv(i)(7eu)$  a>u<T£t<s  ro7)  xuptou  fj.uftzUovTas^  fiiav  dk  pszd 
rrjv  hoxnv  ava-Kh'trrovra^^  ävaSs/iari^et  (this  was  the  Sacri- 
fice of  the  thoughts  of  the  heart).     'E-xoftevot  roivov  roT? 

aylots  ~azpä(7VJ  iva  xai  tuv  auruv  6/j.oXoysJv  uluv  riv  xbpwv 
yj/iwv  V.  Jlp.  (jufj.<pcuvw§  o'.TiOyre<s  Exdidafrxofiev  tO.ewv  r!)v  auruv 
zv  fteozTjTt  xai  riXstov  rov  aoruv  iv  ävHpwTÖz^ri^  #sov  akrfi-m^ 
xai  ävftpco-ov  aXy-ftd)?  rov  aordv^  then  it  reads  :  %va  xai  ruv 
auruv  Xpiarbv  .  .  .  Iv  duo  <pü<je<7tv  (ix  duo  <pü<rswv  is  a 
later  correction,  favorable  to  monophysitism)  dauyyu- 

T(i>?5  ärpiirrats  ädtaipiro)^  ä%wpiOTto§  yviopi^Ofiev^  ouda,uoi>  T7t<s 
rwv  <pu(Tsa>v   dca<fopä$  ävqpTjfiivrjs   did   rr^v   ivatfftVj    aai£ofiivi)$ 


204        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

dt   fiäXXov   r^c  ldiOT7jro<s  Ixaripas  <pi)G£a)qy  xat  eig  iv  npöfftonov 

xui    fxtav    UTtöffTCLfftv     Guvrpzyona-q? ,    oöx  er's     duo    izpoawxa 

fiepi£6ftevov  7}   Staipobpevov^  äXXä    eva  xai  rov  aurov   ulov    xai 
pLOvoyevrj    &edv  Xdyov. 

Full  By  this  distinction  between  nature  and  person  the 

Humanity 

secured.  p0W6r  of  the  mystery  of  faith  was  paralyzed,  a  con- 
ceivable mystery  established,  and  yet  the  clearness 
of  the  Antiochian  conception  of  the  humanity  of 
Jesus  was  after  all  not  reached.  The  formula  is 
negative  and  cold ;  the  pious  saw  their  comfort,  the 
huxnq  <pu(Ttxrj,  vanish.  How  shall  our  nature  profit 
by  what  occurred  in  the  Person  of  Christ?  The 
hated  "moralism",  or  the  mj-sticism  of  the  union  of 
the  Logos  with  every  human  soul,  seemed  to  be  the 
consequence.  And,  besides,  one  was  expected  to  be- 
lieve in  a  <ph<H<s  ävunoffTaffts,  of  which  hitherto  in  the 
Orient  only  a  few  had  known  anything !  The  gain 
in  having  now  secured  the  full  humanity  of  Jesus 
as  an  incontestible  article  of  faith,  invaluable  for  the 
future,  was  too  dearly  bought.  Peace  was  also  not 
restored.  Emperor  and  pope  wrere  at  variance  over 
the  28th  canon,  even  if  they  did  not  allow  the  mat- 
ter to  come  to  a  rupture,-  and  the  Church  of  the 
Orient  fell  into  dissolution. 

SS:  3-  The  Monophysite  Contests  and  the  5th  Coun- 
cil. (Mansi,  T.  VII-IX;  Loofs,  Leontius  von  By- 
zanz,  1887). — The  century  between  the  4th  and  5th 
councils  shows  the  most  complicated  and  confused 
relations;  during  the  time  the  dogmatic  situation 
also  constantly  changes,  so  that  a  short  survey  is 


troversies. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     295 

impossible.     Therefore  only  a  few  principal  points 
can  be  here  stated. 

(1)  The  opponents  of  the  Chalcedon  creed,  the  ^JPgjSj? 
monophysites,  were  superior  to  the  orthodox  in  creed, 
spiritual  power  and  activity.  In  Egypt,  parts  of 
Syria  and  Armenia,  they  kept  the  upper  hand,  and 
the  emperors  succeeded  neither  by  threats  nor  by 
concessions  in  gaining  them  over  for  any  length  of 
time;  these  provinces  rather  alienated  themselves 
more  and  more  from  the  empire  and  joined  the 
monophysitic  confession  with  their  nationality,  pre- 
paratory to  founding  independent  national  churches 
hostile  to  the  Greek.  In  the  main  persevering 
steadfastly  in  the  doctrine  of  Cyril  and  rejecting 
the  farther-reaching  Apollinarian-Eutychian  form- 
ulas, the  monophysites  showed  by  inward  spiritual 
movements  that  in  their  midst  alone  the  dogmatical 
legacy  of  the  Church  was  still  alive.  The  newly- 
awakened  Aristotelianism,  which  as  scholasticism 
took  the  place  of  Platonism,  found  among  them 
learned  defenders,  who  (John  Philoponus) ,  to  be  sure, 
approached  in  their  speculation  very  near  to  trithe- 
ism.  In  regard  to  the  Christological  question  there 
were  two  main  tendencies  (Gieseler,  Comment,  qua 
Monoph.  opin.  illustr.,  2  Part.,  1835  seq.).  These 
(Severus,  Severians,  "  Agnoetians",  "Phartola- 
treans  ")  were  really  opposed  to  the  Chalcedon  creed 
only  as  a  formal  innovation,  but  agreed  even  to  a 
notional  distinction  between  the  two  natures  in 
Christ,  and,  still  more,   were  zealously  anxious  to 


296        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

keep  the  natures  unmixed  and  to  lay  stress  upon  the 
creature-ship  and  corruptibility  (in  theory)  of  the 
body  of  Christ  as  well  as  upon  the  limits  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  soul  of  Christ,  so  that  they  offended  even 
the  orthodox.  They  might  have  been  won,  if  the 
Chalcedon  formula,  i.e.  the  epistolary  teaching  of 
Leo,  had  been  sacrificed.  The  others,  on  the  con- 
trary (Julian  of  Halicarnasses,  "  Aktistetes,"  "  Aph- 
thartodoketes") ,  rejecting  it  is  true  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  one  nature  into  the  other,  drew  all  the 
consequences  of  the  tvw<rj?  <puffuyj :  From  the  moment 

Phusike.  of  the  assumptio  the  body  also  should  be  consid- 
ered as  imperishable  and,  indeed,  as  uncreated;  all 
the  attributes  of  the  Deity  were  transferred  to  the 
human  nature;  accordingly  all  affections  and  re- 
strictions, which  one  observes  in  the  evangelical  pic- 
ture of  Christ,  were  assumed  by  him  freely  xard 
X<*pw,  but  were  not  the  necessary  consequences  of  his 
nature.  This  conception,  influenced  solely  by  the 
idea  of  redemption,  alone  corresponds  to  the  old 
tradition  (Irenaeus,  Athanasius,  Gregory  of  Nyssa, 
etc.).  Finally  there  were  also  such  monophysites — 
yet  certainly  they  were  not  numerous — as  advanced 

Ar!tesh0"  to  a  Pantneistic  speculation  ("  Adiaphorites  ") :  The 
creature  is  in  a  mysterious  manner  altogether  con- 
substantial  with  God;  the  hioat?  <pu<jr/.rj  in  Christ  is 
only  the  expression  for  the  general  consubstantiality 
of  his  nature  and  the  Deity  (Stephen  bar  Sudaili; 
the  mystics;  influence  upon  the  Occident;  Scotus 
Erigena).     Since  the  5th  Council  and  still  more  since 


■ 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     297 

the  advent  of  Islam,  the  monophysitic  churches  have 
pined  away  in  isolation,  the  wild  national  and  relig- 
ious fanaticism  and  the  barren  phantasy  of  the  monks 
have  delivered  them  over  to  barbarism. 

(2)  Since  coercion  had  no  effect,  a  few  emperors  Henotikon 

of   Zeno. 

sought,  in  order  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  empire, 
to  suppress  temporarity  the  Chalcedon  creed  (En- 
cyclica  of  Basiliscus,  476),  or  to  avoid  it  (Henotikon 
of  Zeno,  482).  But  the  consequence  of  this  policy 
always  was  that  they  won  over  only  a  part  of  the 
monophysites  and  that  they  fell  out  with  Rome  and 
the  Occident.  Thus  arose,  on  the  account  of  the 
Henotikon,  a  thirty-five  years'  schism  with  Rome 
(484-519),  which  served  only  to  make  the  pope  still 
more  independent.  The  emperors  could  not  reach  a 
decision  to  sacrifice  either  Rome  or  the  Orient,  and 
finally  they  lost  both.  In  the  year  519  the  Chalce- 
don creed  was  fully  restored,  in  alliance  with  Rome, 
by  the  emperor  Justin,  who  was  influenced  by  his 
nephew  Justinian.  But  the  theopaschite  contest  Chite°con- 
(enlargement  of  the  trishagion  by  the  addition:  6 
(jraupwiM?  di  r),uaj,  i.e.,  the  validity  of  the  formula: 
"  One  of  the  trinity  was  crucified  " :  They  are  not 
identical,  for  the  one  was  a  cultish  innovation  and 
could  be  understood  in  a  Sabellian  way,  while  the 
other  is  good  orthodoxy)  shows,  since  518,  that  in 
the  Occident  every  Cyrillian  explanation  of  the 
Chalcedon  creed  was  regarded  with  suspicion,  while 
the  orthodox  in  the  Orient  would  tolerate  the  Chal- 
cedon creed   only  with  a  Cyrillian   interpretation, 


298        OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

hoping  thereby  still  always  for  a  reconciliation  with 
the  monophysites. 

Lenntius  (3)  \\ThJie  in  the  5th  century  the  Chalcedon  ortho- 
tium*  doxy  had  upon  the  whole  no  noted  dogmatic  repre- 
sentative in  the  Orient — the  strongest  proof  that  it 
was  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  the  Orient — several  ap- 
peared after  the  beginning  of  the  Gth  century.  The 
formula  had  not  only  in  time  become  more  venera- 
ble, but  the  study  of  Aristotle  above  all  furnished 
weapons  for  its  defence.  The  scholasticism  not  only 
permitted  the  retention  of  the  Chalcedon  distinction 
between  nature  and  person,  but  even  also  welcomed 
it  and  gave  to  the  formula  still  a  strong  Cyril- 
lian  interpretation.  This  was  brought  about  by 
the  Scythian  monk,  Leontius  of  Byzantium,  the  most 
eminent  dogmatist  of  the  6th  century,  the  forerunner 
of  John  of  Damascus,  and  the  teacher  of  Justinian. 
He  pacified  the  Church  by  a  philosophically  conceiv- 
able exposition  of  the  Chalcedon  creed  and  buried 
the  dogma  in  scholastical  technicalities.  He  is  the 
father  of  the  Christological  new-orthodoxy,  just  as 
the  Cappadocians  were  the  fathers  of  the  trinitarian 
new-orthodoxy.  Through  his  doctrine  of  the  en- 
hypostasis  of  the  human  nature,  he  paid,  in  the 
form  of  a  fine  Apollinarianism,  full  regard  to  the 
idea  of  redemption. 

Jlpoi?cyn  s  W  Henceforth  the  policy  of  Justinian,  the  royal 
dogmatist,  must  be  understood  as  a  religious  policy. 
By  unexampled  luck  he  had  brought  the  whole  em- 
pire under  his  sway,  and  he  wished  in  like  manner  to 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     200 

settle  finally  the  law  and  the  dogmatics  of  the  em- 
pire. The  following  points  of  view  guided  him  :  (a) 
Strict  adhesion  to  the  verbal  text  of  the  Chalcedon 
creed  as  a  capital  decision  equal  in  standing  to 
those  of  Nicaea,  Constantinople  and  Ephesus,  (b) 
Strict  C}Trillian  interpretation  of  the  symbol  (the 
emperor  was  inclined  to  go  as  far  as  aphthartodoket- 
ism) ,  in  order  to  gain  over  the  monophysites  and  to 
follow  his  own  inclination.  The  means  to  it  were :  usedS 
(a)  Numerous  imperial  religious  edicts  in  the  sense 
of  the  Christology  of  Leontius,  (b)  Public  religious 
discourses,  (c)  The  carrying  out  of  the  theopaschitic 
formula,  (d)  Suppression  of  every  more  liberal  and 
more  independent  theology;  therefore,  on  the  one 
side,  that  of  Origen,  who  had  many  sympathizers 
among  the  monophysitic  monks,  especially  in  Pales- 
tine, and,  on  the  other  side,  of  the  Antiochian  theol- 
ogy >  which  also  still  possessed  numerous  adherents 
(as  the  emperor  had  closed  the  school  at  Athens,  so 
he  intended  likewise  to  close  all  Christian  scientific 
schools;  only  the  scholastic  should  remain),  (e) 
Enforced  naturalization  of  the  new-orthodoxy  in  the 
Occident.  The  execution  of  these  plans  was  rendered 
difficult :  (1)  By  the  secret  monophysitic  co-regency  DE^coun-es 
of  the  empress  Theodora,  (2)  By  the  refusal  of  the 
Occident  to  consent  to  the  rejection  of  the  Antioch- 
ians,  i.  e.  of  the  "  three  articles  "  (person  and  writ- 
ings of  Theodore,  anti-Cyrillian  writings  of  Theo- 
doret,  letter  of  Ibas  to  Maris) .  In  the  later  condem- 
nation of  the  Antiochians,  the  Occident   (Facundus 


300        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Origen  and 

"Three 
Chapters  " 

Con- 
demned, 
553. 


Monergis- 
tic  and 
Mono- 
theletic 
Contro- 
versies. 


of  Hermiane)  rightly  recognized  an  attempt  to  do 
away  with  the  doctrine  of  the  two  natures,  as  Leo 
had  meant  it,  and  to  substitute  in  its  place  a  fine 
monophysitism.  However,  the  emperor  found  in 
Rome  a  characterless  pope  (Vigilius),  who,  in  grati- 
fying the  emperor,  covered  himself  with  disgrace 
and  jeopardized  his  position  in  the  Occident  (great 
schisms  in  the  Occident).  The  emperor  obtained 
the  condemnation  of  Origen  and  of  the  "  three  chap- 
ters " ;  he  restored  the  dogmatic  ideas  of  the  two 
Ephesian  councils  of  431  and  419  without  touching 
the  Chalcedon  creed,  and  he  caused  all  this  to  be 
sanctioned  by  obedient  bishops  at  the  oth  council 
in  Constantinople,  553.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
one  could  now  speak  with  Cyril  of  one  God-incarnate 
nature  (by  the  side  of  the  doctrine  of  the  two  natures) 
and  that  the  spirit  of  Oriental  dogmatism  had  thus 
gained  the  victory,  the  monophysites  would  not  be 
won;  for  the  Chalcedon  creed  was 'too  much  detested 
and  the  antagonisms  had  long  since  become  national. 
4.  The  Monergistic  and  Monotlieletic  Contro- 
versies, the  6th  Council  and  John  of  Damascus 
(Mansi,  T.  X.  and  XI.).—  With  the  decisions  of  the 
4th  and  5th  councils,  the  doctrine  of  one  will  in 
Christ  would  agree,  as  well  as  the  doctrine  of  tico 
wills.  In  fact  before  the  6th  century,  no  one  had 
spoken  of  two  wills  in  Christ;  for  the  Antiochians 
also  had  said,  as  once  Paul  of  Samosata,  that  the 
human  will  was  entirely  blended  with  the  Divine 
will   (unity  of   will,   not  singleness  of   will).     But 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     301 

the  theology  of  Leontius  tended  on  the  whole  toward 
the  doctrine  of  two  wills.  Yet  it  would  hardly  have 
come  to  a  controversy — the  dogma  had  alread}T,  since 
553,  been  surrendered  to  theological  science  (scho- 
lasticism) and  the  cultus  (mysticism) — if  politics 
had  not  taken  possession  of  the  question. 

The  patriarch  of  the  capital,  Sersrius,  counselled    Emperor 

r  *         '  ö         '  Heraclius, 

the  powerful  emperor  Heraclius  (610-641)  to  Sergius- 
strengthen  his  reconquered  territory  in  the  south 
and  east  by  making  advances  to  the  monophysites 
with  the  formula:  The  God-man,  consisting  of  two 
natures,  effected  everything  with  one  God-incarnate 
energy.  Upon  this  basis  a  union  was  really  formed 
in  633  with  many  monophysites.  But  opposition 
arose  (Sophronius,  afterward  bishop  of  Jerusalem) ,    Honorius, 

Sophro 

and  Sergius  in  union  with  Honorius  of  Rome  now       nius- 
sought  to  do  justice  to  all  by  giving  out  the  watch- 
word :  One  should  be  silent  in  regard  to  the  energies 
(that  Christ  had  only  one  ü£k-q>i.a  was  still  considered 
self-evident).     Thus  also  ran  an  imperial  edict,  the 
ekthesis  (638).     But  not  only  in  the  Occident  were 
the  consequences   of  the  doctrinal  letter  of  Leo  re- 
membered, but  in  the  Orient  the  ablest  theologians 
(Maximus  the  Confessor)  were  also  so  attached  to 
the  Chalcedon  creed   through  Aristotelian  scholas- 
ticism, that  they  classed  the  will  with  the  nature  (not 
with  the  Person)   and  therefore  demanded  the  dual- 
ity.    Now  even  monotheletism  was  condemned  at  a  iJJJSftoSö- 
Roman  synod,  641  (Pope  John  IV.).     The  Orientals,     aVi!!!!,,'.-. 
who  rejected    the  ekthesis,  fled   to    Carthage  and 


649. 


302        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Rome  and  prepared,  in  union  with  the  pope,  a  formal 
revolution.  This,  indeed,  was  thwarted  (the  ques- 
tion was  as  to  the  freedom  of  the  Church  in  relation 
to  the  state ;  the  effort  continued  in  the  image  con- 
troversy). Yet  the  emperor  found  himself  obliged 
to  surrender  the  ekthesis,  replacing  it  by  the  typos 
which  forbade,  under  severe  penalties,  the  contro- 
versy over  one  or  two  wills.  But  Rome  did  not 
consent  to  this  either.  At  the  Lateran  synod,  649 
(Martini.),  which  many  Orientals  attended,  the  con- 
spiracy continued  against  the  emperor,  who  dared 

Two-win    to   give  orders  to  the  Church.     The  two-will  doc- 
Doctrine 
at  Rome,    trine    was    formulated     in    strict     language,    but, 

strangely  enough,  the  right  of  the  correctly  under- 
stood Sentence  :  fäa  (pbais  too  #eoD  löyou  6-s<rapzw/j.iv7)  was 

conceded.  A  large  number  of  Constantinopolitan 
patriarchs  of  the  latter  days  were  condemned.  Mar- 
tin showed  signs,  like  a  second  Dioscuros-,  of  ruling 
and  stirring  up  the  churches  of  the  Orient,  but  the 
emperor  Constans,  the  sovereign  of  the  pope,  suc- 
ceeded in  subduing  him  (653).  Dishonored  and 
disgraced,  he  died  in  the  Chersonesus.  Maximus 
the  Confessor  also  had  to  suffer.  Constans  soon 
found  in  Rome  more  accommodating  popes,  and 
remained  until  his  death  (668)  master  of  the  situa- 
tion, making  the  typos  of  importance  and  putting 
forward  the  reasonable  expedient,  that  the  two  nat- 
ural wills  had  become,  in  accordance  with  the  hypo- 
static union,  one  hypostatic  will. 

The  reaction  which  followed  in  Constantinople  is 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     o03 

not  perfectly  clear.  Perhaps  because  one  needed  no  Constan- 
longer  to  pay  regard  to  the  monophysites,  perhaps  fgathon. 
because  "  science  "  was  favorable  to  the  doctrine  of  two 
wills,  perhaps  because  men  desired  to  fetter,  through 
dogmatic  concessions,  the  uncertain  Occidental  pos- 
sessions and  bind  them  more  firmly  to  the  capital, 
the  emperor  Constantine  Pogonatus  made  advances 
and  sought  to  entice  the  powerful  pope  Agathon 
to  new  negotiations.  The  latter  sent  a  doctrinal 
epistle  as  Leo  I.  once  had,  which  proclaimed  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  Roman  chair  and  the  dyotheletism. 
At  the  6th   council  in  Constantinople  (680)  it  was  Council  of 

x  v  Con  stan  ti- 

carried  through  after  diverse  proposals  of  intermedi-   nople' 68a 
ation  and  under  protest,  which  however  finally  ceased, 
i.e.  the   formal  consequences  of  the  decree  of  451 
were  deduced  (two  natural  üeXy/iara  and  two  natural 

energies  adtoupgrw^    arpiTtruxs;^    ä/ieptarcuSy    a<7oyyu-w$    in 

the  one  Christ;  they  were  not  to  be  considered  as 
contradictory,  for  the  human  will  follows  and  does 
not  resist  nor  contradict,  rather  is  it  subject  to  the 
Divine  and  almighty  will;  the  human  will  is  not 
suspended,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  communication 
takes  place:  It  is  the  will  of  the  God-Logos,  just 
as  the  human  nature,  without  suspension,  neverthe- 
less became  the  nature  of  the  God-Logos).  At 
the  same  time  many  of  the  Constantinopolitan  patri- 
archs and  pope  Honorius  were  condemned.  Thus 
Rome  again  dictated  its  formula,  balanced  the  5th 
council  by  the  6th  and  insinuated  itself  into  the 
Orient.     But  the  agreement  was  of  short  duration. 


304        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Already  at  the  second  Trullan  council  in  692  the 
Orient  took  a  strong  position  against  Rome  in  mat- 
ters of  cult — and  these  were  already  the  more  de- 
cisive things. 
It?SflrSy11"  The  formulas  of  the  Byzantine  dogmatics  are  Oc- 
Damascus.  cidental ;  but  the  spirit,  which  in  431  and  553  had 
expressed  itself,  retained  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  formulas  the  upper  hand,  and  the  cultus  and 
mystic-system  have  always  been  understood  mono- 
physitically.  On  the  one  side,  this  was  shown  in  the 
image-controversy,  on  the  other,  in  the  Christologic- 
al  dogmatics  of  John  of  Damascus.  In  spite  of  the 
dyophysitical  and  dyotheletical  formula  and  the 
sharp  distinction  between  nature  and  person,  a  fine 
Apollinarianism,  or  monophysitism,  has  been  here 
preserved,  in  so  far  as  it  is  taught  that  the  God- 
Logos  assumed  human  nature  (not  of  a  man)  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  same  was  first  individualized 
b}T  the  God-Logos.  That  is  the  intermediate  thing 
already  recognized  by  Leontius,  which  has  no  hypo- 
stasis of  its  own,  yet  is  also  not  without  one  but 
possesses  in  the  hypostasis  of  the  Logos  its  indepen- 
dence. Furthermore,  the  distinction  between  the  na- 
tures was  adjusted  by  the  doctrine  of  the  r.zpixwpr^is 
and  the  idiomae-communication.  The  psradofj^  (oixei- 
w(TL?,  ävTidotjis)  of  the  attributes  of  the  two  natures,  the 
Damascan  will  so  definitely  conceive  that  he  speaks 
of  an  ei<s  aXhjka  r&v  ßipwv  neptzmpTjffts.  The  flesh  in- 
directly became  truly  God  and  the  Deity  pervades  the 
deified  flesh. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  INCARNATION.    305 


C— THE  TEMPORAL  ENJOYMENT  OF  REDEMP- 
TION. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE   MYSTERIES  AND   MATTERS  AKIN  TO  THEM. 

Already  in  the  6th  century  the  dogmatic  devel-  Tradition- 
opment  of  the  Greek  Church  was  concluded  and  uahsm- 
even  before  that  each  advance  was  obliged  to  con- 
tend against  aversion  and  suspicion.  The  reason 
for  it  lay  in  the  traditionalism  or,  more  correctly,  in 
the  ritualism,  which  more  and  more  gained  the 
upper  hand. 

This  ritualism  also  has  a  tender,  religious,  even  En^{feent 
Christian  root.  It  originated  in  the  endeavor  to  Mystenes- 
point  out  and  realize  the  enjoyment  of  an  already 
present  salvation,  which  springs  from  the  same 
source  from  which  the  future  redemption  flows — from 
the  God-incarnate  Person  of  Christ — and  which, 
therefore,  is  the  same  in  kind  as  the  latter.  Origin- 
ally men  thought,  touching  the  present  enjoyment  of 
salvation,  more  of  spiritual  blessings,  of  knowledge, 
of  the  strengthening  of  freedom  unto  good  works, 
etc.  Bat  since  the  future  redemption  was  repre- 
sented as  a  mysterious  deification*,  it  was  only  con- 
sistent that  they  should  consider  the  knowledge  also 
as  mysterious  and  to  be  communicated  by  holy  con- 
secrations, and  that,  in  accordance  with  the  idea  of 
a  future  physical  union  with  the  Deity,  they  should 

*  See  page  199,  note. 
20 


306       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Mathesis 
becomes 
Mysta- 

gogia 


Mysta- 
gogic 
Theology. 


endeavor  to  verify  for  the  present  time  also  the  way 
unto,  and  foretaste  of,  this  divineness. 

This  tendency,  however,  leads  directly  over  to  the 
paganizing  of  Christianity  or,  rather,  is  already  a 
symptom  of  it.  The  tuför)<n<s  becomes  iiutnaycayia^  the 
latter,  however,  originally  a  shadowy  union  of  the 
spiritual  and  sensuous,  tends  more  and  more  to  magic 
and  jugglery.  In  this  the  ritual  is  the  chief  thing; 
nothing,  however,  is  more  sensitive  than  a  cere- 
mony; it  does  not  bear  the  slightest  change.  In  so 
far  now  as  the  formulas  of  faith  lost  more  and  more 
their  significance  as  fid&rjats  and  became  in  ever 
higher  degree  constituents  of  the  ritual,  expressing 
at  the  same  time  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  it,  i.e., 
to  make  divine,  they  permitted  no  longer  of  any 
change.  Wherever  the  dogma  appear  valuable 
only  as  a  relic  of  olden  times,  or  only  in  ritualistic 
ceremony,  there  the  history  of  dogma  is  at  an  end. 
In  its  place  comes  the  mystagogic  theology,  and 
indeed  the  latter,  together  and  in  close  union  with 
scholasticism,  took  already  in  the  6th  century  the 
place  of  the  history  of  dogma.  The  mystagogic 
theology,  however,  has  two  sides.  On  the  one  side, 
in  creating  for  itself  upon  the  earth  a  new  world 
and  in  making  of  things,  persons  and  times  mys- 
terious symbols  and  vehicles,  it  leads  to  the  relig- 
ion of  necromancy,  i.e.  back  to  the  lowest  grade  of 
religion;  for  to  the  masses,  and  finally  even  to 
theologians,  the  spirit  vanishes  and  the  phlegma, 
the    consecrated    matter,    remains.      As    the    Neo- 


■■ 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     307 

Platonic  philosophy  degenerated  into  religious  bar- 
barism, so  also  Greek  Christianity,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  expiring  antiquity  which  bequeathed 
to  it  its  highest  ideals  and  idols,  became  image- 
worship.  On  the  other  side,  the  mystagogic  theol- 
ogy retains  for  the  "  knowing  ones "  its  primitive 
pantheistic  germ,  the  fundamental  thought  that  God 
and  nature,  in  the  deepest  sense,  are  one,  and  that 
nature  is  the  unfolding  of  the  Deity.  The  Christian 
mystagogic  theologians  also  more  or  less  clearly 
thought  out  and  retained  these  ideas.  Through  specu- 
lation and  asceticism  one  can  emancipate  oneself  from 
all  mediums,  mediators  and  vehicles.  Mysterioso- 
phy  takes  the  place  of  the  mysteries ;  these,  like  every- 
thing concrete  and  historical,  become  for  the  know- 
ing ones  pure  symbols,  and  the  historical  redemp- 
tion through  Christ  especially  is  explained  away. 

It  is  not  stransre  that  two  such  different  forms  as  Pantheism, 

0  .  Fetishism. 

pantheism  and  fetishism,  although  balanced  by  ritu- 
alism, should  be  the  final  product  of  the  development, 
since  both  were  lodged  already  in  the  beginning  of 
the  movement  and  are  blood-relations;  then  they 
have  their  root  in  the  conception  of  the  substantial 
unity  of  God  and  nature.  The  history  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  mysteries  and  of  the  theology  of  mys- 
teries, strictly  taken,  does  not  belong  here,  therefore 
only  a  few  hints  will  follow. 

1.  At  the  beginning  of  the  4th  century  the  Church  gM^S, 
already  possessed   a  great  array  of   mysteries,   the     uieJTtc". 
number  and  bounds  of  which,  however,  had  by  no 


308        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

means  been  definitely  determined.  Among  them 
baptism,  together  with  the  accompanying  unction, 
and  the  eucharist  were  the  most  esteemed;  from 
these  also  some  of  the  other  mysteries  have  been 
evolved.  Symbolic  ceremonies,  originally  intended 
to  accompany  these  mysteries,  became  independent. 
Thus  confirmation  had  its  origin,  which  Cyprian  al- 
ready numbered  as  a  special "  sacramentum" ,  Augus- 
tine pointed  it  out  as  sacramentum  chrismatis,  and 
the  Areopagite  called  it  ixoarijpiov  tsX^t?^  ßopoo.  Later 
men  spoke  also  of  a  mystery  of  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  of  relics,  of  exorcism,  of  marriage,  etc.,  and 
six  Mys-    the   Areopagite   enumerates   six   mysteries:    v''wr^- 

'pludte0"     lmT°S<)  GOvd%Ew<$^  sir    uuv  xoixovias^  T£Ä£~7,s  /j.opooy  Uparuwv 
rsXet(ü(Tewvy  povaytxy^  reXziwaew^  and  /J.u<rrrjpta  fit)  zwv  iepw$ 

xexoip.r)p.ii«ov.  The  enumeration  was  very  arbitrary; 
mystery  was  anything  sensuous  whereby  something 
holy  might  be  thought  or  enjoyed.  They  corre- 
sponded to  the  heavenly  mysteries,  which  have  their 
source  in  the  trinity  and  incarnation.  As  each  fact 
of  revelation  is  a  mystery,  in  so  far  as  the  Divine 
has  through  it  entered  into  the  sensuous,  so  in  turn 
is  each  sensuous  medium,  even  a  word  or  action,  a 
mystery,  so  soon  as  the  sensuous  is  a  symbol  or 
vehicle — there  has  never  been  a  strict  distinction  be- 
tween them— of  the  Divine.  The  effects  of  the  mys- 
teries were  celebrated  in  the  highest  terms  as  union 
with  the  Deity;  but  since  they  cannot  restore  lost 
communion  with  God  (only  Christ  and  freedom  are 
able  to  do  that) ,  strict  dogmatics  was  able  to  say  very 


■<■ 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     300 

little  about  them.  The  true  effect  is  purely  one  of 
feeling,  i.e.  is  experienced  in  the  fantasy:  Men 
saw,  heard,  smelt,  and  felt  the  celestial,  but  a  dis- 
turbed conscience  they  could  not  comfort  with  the 
mysteries,  nor  did  one  hardly  try  to  do  so. 

On  this  basis,  since  the  coarse  instinct  of  the  Spiiy" 
masses  pressed  forward,  mysteriosophy  was  devel-  ochian 
oped.  Its  roots  are  as  old  as  the  gentile  Church  and  andrian. 
two  converging  developments  may  be  discerned,  the 
Antiochian  and  the  Alexandrian.  The  first  (Ignatius, 
the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  Chrysostom)  attaches 
itself  to  the  cult  and  priests,  the  second  to  the  true 
gnostic,  i.e.  to  the  monk.  The  first  sees  in  Divine 
worship  and  in  the  priest  (bishop)  the  true  bequest 
of  the  God-incarnate  life  of  Christ  and  binds  the 
layman,  viewed  as  entirely  passive,  to  the  cultus  hier- 
archical system,  by  which  one  becomes  consecrated 
to  immortality ;  the  second  desires  to  form  indepen- 
dent virtuosos  of  religion.  The  Alexandrian  myste- 
riosophy is  heterodox,  but  it  did  not  neglect  a  single 
phase  of  the  positive  religion,  rather  did  it  make 
use  of  them  all  by  the  side  of  the  graduated  ad- 
vancing knowledge  (sacrifice,  blood,  reconciliation, 
atonement,  purification,  perfection,  means  of  salva- 
tion, mediator  of  salvation) ;  true,  viewing  them  all 
as  transition  stages,  in  order  to  gain  through  specu- 
lation and  asceticism  a  standpoint  from  which  each 
vehicle  and  sacrament,  everything  holy  which  ap- 
pears under  a  sensuous  cover,  becomes  profane,  be- 
cause the  soul  now  lives  in  the  most  holy  and  be- 


310       OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

cause  in  each  man  a  Christ  should  be  born ;  napou^ 

ArecTa11-  ^he  ^W0  niysteriosophies,  the  hierarchical  and  the 
gnostic,  converge  in  the  mysticism  of  the  great  un- 
known Dionysius  Areopagita  (preliminary  stages 
are  represented  by  Methodius,  Gregory  of  Nyssa, 
Macarius),  who,  on  the  one  side,  viewed  the  cult  and 
priesthood  as  an  earthly  parallel  to  the  heavenly 
hierarchy  (to  the  graded  world  of  spirits  as  the  un- 
folding of  the  Deity),  on  the  other,  adopted  the  in- 
dividualism of  the  Neo-Platonic  mysticism.  Through 
Maximus  Confessor  this  combination  became  the 
power  which  ruled  the  Church,  tried  to  monarchize 
it,  and  inoculated  it  with  the  monkish  resistance  to 
the  state — the  only  form  in  which  the  Greek  Church 
was  or  is  able  to  assert  its  independence. 
Mysthe7  °f  ^ie  Pecu^ar  character  of  mysteriosophy,  as  a 
speculation  regarding  the  making  of  the  Divine  per- 
ceptible to  the  senses  and  the  making  of  the  sensuous 
Divine,  could  in  no  mystery  be  more  strongly  ex- 
pressed than  in  the  eucharist  (Steitz,  Abendmahls- 
lehre  d.  griech  Kirche,  i.  d.  Jahrb.  f.  deutsche 
Theo!.,  Bd.  IX-XIIL).  This,  long  since  recognized 
as  the  ground  upon  which  the  sublimest  spiritualism 
can  extend  its  hand  to  the  most  massive  sensualism, 
became  so  developed,  that  by  it  the  Christological 
formula,  the  fundamental  dogma,  appeared  alive  and 
comprehensible.  Without  giving  to  the  speculation 
on  the  Lord's  Supper  a  strictly  instructional  cast, 
the  same  was  so  treated  in  general,  especially  after 


Eucharist. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     311 

Cyril  of  Alexandria,  that  it  was  considered  as  the  su£™anti- 
mystery  which  rests  directly  upon  the  incarnation 
and  perpetuates  the  mystery  of  the  &£iu<ti$.  All  other 
mysteries,  in  so  far  as  they  also  contain  the  blending 
into  one  of  the  heavenly  and  earthly,  exist  in  reality 
only  by  reason  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Here  only  is 
given  an  express  transmutation  of  the  sensuous  into 
the  divine  body  of  Christ;  for  this  conception  gained 
more  and  more  ground,  abolished  symbolism  and 
finally  carried  its  point  altogether.  The  transub- 
stantiation  of  the  consecrated  bread  into  the  body  of 
Christ  is  the  continuation  of  the  process  of  the  in- 
carnation. Thereby  pure  monopliysitic  formulas 
were  used  in  relation  to  the  Lord's  Supper — highly 
characteristic — and  gradually  the  conception  even 
made  its  way,  that  the  body  into  which  the  bread 
is  transformed  is  per  assumptionem  the  very 
body  of  Christ,  borne  by  the  virgin,  of  which  for- 
merly hardly  any  one  had  thought  since  the  older 
theologians  also  understood  under  <rdpz  Xpiaroo  some- 
thing "pneumatic".  But  as  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a 
sacrament  was  united  in  the  closest  manner  with  the 
dogma  of  the  incarnation  and  the  Christological  for- 
mula (hence  the  sensitiveness  of  this  formula),  so  was 
it  likewise  connected  as  a  sacrifice  with  the  death  on 
the  cross  (repetition  of  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross ;  how-  Jf^esac- 
ever,  the  conception  has  not  been  so  definitely  ex-  theflcross. 
pressed  in  the  Greek  Church  as  in  the  Occident). 
Accordingly  it  re-enacted  the  most  important  histor- 
ical events,  not  as  a  remembrance,  but  as  a  continu- 


312       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP    DOGMA. 


Image- 
Worship, 
Supersti- 
tion, Poly- 
theism. 


ation,  i.e.  a  repetition,  whereby  those  facts  were 
deprived  of  their  meaning  and  significance.  At  the 
same  time  the  immoral  and  irreligious  thirst  after 
"  realities  "  changed  the  sacred  act  into  a  repast,  in 
which  one  bit  the  Deity  to  pieces  with  the  teeth 
(thus  already  Chrysostom;  completion  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Lord's  Supper  by  John  of  Damascus). 

2.  The  whole  development  of  Greek  Christianity 
into  image-worship,  superstition  and  poorly  veiled 
polytheism  may,  however,  also  be  conceived  as  the 
victory  of  a  religion  of  the  second  order,  which  is 
always  prevalent  in  the  Church,  over  the  spiritual 
religion.  The  former  became  legitimized  and  was 
fused  with  the  cloctrina  publica,  although  theolo- 
gians enjoined  certain  precautions.  As  the  pagan 
temples  were  reconsecrated  and  made  into  Christian 
churches,  so  was  the  old  paganism  preserved  as 
angel-,  saint-,  image-  and  amulet-worship.  The  re- 
ligion whose  strength  had  once  been  the  abomination 
of  idols,  finally  surrendered  to  idols  and  became  in  a 
certain  measure  morally  obtuse.  True,  the  connect- 
ing links  are  found  in  the  doctrina  publica  itself ;  for, 
Kseäud°f  W  This  was  constructed  out  of  the  material  of  the 
Greek  philosophy;  but  this  philosophy  was  inter- 
twined by  a  thousand  threads  with  the  mythology 
and  superstition,  (2)  It  sanctioned  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, though  originally  prescribing  a  spiritual  inter- 
pretation of  it;  but  the  letter  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  in  fact  expressed  a  subordinate  religious  stage 
of  development,   became  more  and   more  powerful 


■■ 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     313 

and  made  advances  to  the  inferior  tendencies  of  the 
Church,  which  it  then  appeared  to  legitimize,  (3) 
The  acts  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  conceived 
as  mysteries,  opened  in  general  the  doors  and  win- 
dows to  the  inroad  of  the  mystery-nuisance,  (4) 
The  faith  in  angels  and  demons,  handed  down  from 
antiquity  and  protected  by  the  doctrina  publica, 
grew  more  and  more  powerful,  was  fostered  in  a 
crude  form  by  the  monks,  in  a  spiritual  form  by  the 
Neo-Platonic  theologians,  and  threatened  more  and 
more  to  become  the  true  sphere  of  piety,  behind 
which  the  inconceivable  God  and  the  (in  consequence 
of  the  Church  doctrine)  just  as  inconceivable  Christ 
was  hidden  in  the  darkness,  (5)  The  old  idea  that  Worship  of 

Saints. 

there  are  "  saints  "  (apostles,  prophets,  ecclesiastical 
teachers,  martyrs)  had  already  very  early  been  cul- 
tivated in  such  a  manner  that  these  saints  interceded 
and  made  atonement  for  men  and  took  now  more 
and  more  the  place  of  the  dethroned  gods,  joining 
themselves  to  the  angel-hosts.     Among  them  Mary   of  virgin 

Mary. 

stepped  into  the  fore-ground  and  she — she  alone — has 
been  specially  benefited  by  the  trend  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  dogma.  A  woman,  a  mother  now  ap- 
peared near  the  Deitj^,  and  thereby  at  last  was  offered 
the  possibility  of  bringing  to  recognition  the  thing 
after  all  most  foreign  to  original  Christianity — the 
Holy,  the  Divine  in  female  form — Mary  became  the 
mother  of  God,  the  one  who  bore  God*,  (6)  From  the    0f  Relics- 

*  Concerning  angel-worship,  in  so  far  as  the  angels  serve  as  mediators 
of  the  benefits  of  salvation,  see  the  Areopagite ;  concerning  the  spread  of 
angel-worship  (especially  of  the  idea  of  guardian  angels)  as  early  as  the 


314        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

earliest  times,  death  had  been  sacred  to  Christians  as 
the  birth-hour  of  true  life;  accordingly  everything 
which  had  any  connection  with  the  death  of  Chris- 
tian heroes  obtained  a  real  sanctity.  The  antique 
idol  and  amulet  business  made  itself  at  home,  but  as 
relic-  and  bone- worship  in  the  most  disgusting  form ; 
in  the  contrast  between  the  insignificant,  fright- 
ful form  and  its  religious  worth  Christians  made 
plain  to  themselves  the  loftiness  of  their  faith,  and 
the  more  unsesthetic  a  relic  appeared,  the  higher 
must  be  its  worth  to  those  who  recognized  in  the  dis- 
embodiment and  obliteration  of  all  sensuous  charms, 
M?Jcacfies,  the  guarantee  of  its  holiness,  (7)  Finally  the  Church 
of  Oracles,   opened  its  doors  to  that  boundless  desire  to  live  in 

etc. 

a  world  of  miracles,  to  enjoy  the  holy  with  the  five 


4th  century,  see  Didynius,  de  trinit.  II.,  7.—  The  worship  of  saints 
(churches  consecrated  to  a  certain  saint)  was  already  by  about  the  year 
300  highly  developed ;  but  in  the  4th  century  counter  efforts  were  not 
wanting  (also  not  concerning  angel-worship;  see  the  synod  of  Laodicea). 
The  Gallic  priest  Vigilantius  especially  fought  against  it,  as  also  against 
the  worship  of  relics.  But  the  most  eminent  teachers  (Jerome)  declared 
against  Vigilantius  and  worked  out  a  "theology  of  saints",  reserving  to  God 
the  Aarpeta,  but  conceding  to  the  saints  ti/u.>/  <rxeTilcv  (n-poo-Kwijo-is).  The  relic 
business,  already  in  bloom  in  the  4th  century,  rose  however  only  in  the 
monophysitic  age  to  its  full  height.  Finally  each  church  had  to  have  its 
relics,  and  the  7th  canon  of  the  7th  council  confirmed  and  solemnly  sanc- 
tioned the  ecclesiastical  use  of  relics.  But  the  principal  part  in  this  reli- 
gion of  the  second  order  was  played  by  Mary.  She  alone  became  a  dog- 
matical magnitude,  ^eotökos,  a  watch-woi*d  like  6/aoouo-ios :  "The  name  of  the 
bearer  of  God  represents  the  whole  mystery  of  the  incarnation  "  (John  of 
Damascus  in  his  homilies  on  Mary).  Gen.  3:3  was  referred  to  her  and  an 
active  participation  of  Mary  in  the  work  of  redemption  was  taught  (espe- 
cially following  Cyril  of  Alexandria;  yet,  see  already  Irenaeus  and  Atha- 
nasius,  Ambrose,  Jerome).  Mary  obtained  a  sacred  history  from  conception 
to  ascension,  a  duplicate  of  the  history  of  Christ  (legends  and  feasts  of 
Mary);  she  was  considered  an  indispensable  mediator.  Still  with  the 
Greeks  she  did  not  become  "queen  of  heaven  "  and  "mother  of  sorrows  " 
as  with  the  Latins  (Benrath,  Z.  Gesch.  der  Marienverehrung  i.  d.  Stud. 
u.  Krit.  1886;  Gass,   Symbolik  der  griech.  Kirche,  S.  183). 


■■■■■■ 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     315 

senses,  to  receive  miraculous  hints  from  the  Deity. 
Even  the  most  cultured  Church  fathers  of  later  times 
did  not  know  how  any  longer  to  discern  between  the 
real  and  unreal ;  they  lived  in  a  world  of  magic  and 
loosed  completely  the  tie  between  religion  and  moral- 
ity (aside  from  asceticism),  joining  the  latter  thereby 
the  more  closely  with  the  sensuous.  The  ceremonies 
out  of  the  gray  past  of  religion,  little  modified,  came 
to  the  surface  again :  Consulting  of  oracles  of  all 
kinds,  judgments  of  God,  prodigies,  etc.  The  syn- 
ods, originally  hostile  to  these  practices,  finally  con- 
sented to  them. 

The  newly  gained  peculiarity  of  the  Greek  Church      ima?e- 

•     °  r  J  Worship  in 

found  its  plainest  expression  in  image-worship  and  church. 
the  image-controversy .  After  image-worship  had 
slowly  crept  into  the  Church,  it  received  a  mighty 
invigoration  and  confirmation,  unheard  of  in  anti- 
quity, by  the  dogma  of  the  incarnation  and  the  cor- 
responding treatment  of  the  eucharist  (since  the  5th 
century).  Christ  is  eixt&v  of  God,  and  yet  a  living 
being,  yes,  Ttveuim  ^woizmov ;  Christ  has  rendered, 
through  the  incarnation,  the  Divine  apprehensible  to 
the  senses;  the  consecrated  elements  are  sixdvsg  of 
Christ,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  body  of  Christ 
itself.  These  ideas  called  up  a  new  world  for  con- 
templation. Everything  sensuous,  which  pertained 
to  the  Church,  became  not  only  a  symbol,  but  also  a 
vehicle  of  holy  things ;  thus  felt  the  monks  and  lay- 
men and  thus  taught  the  theologians.  But  among 
sensuous  things  the  image  shows  plainest  the  union 


Monasti- 
cism. 


316       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

of  the  holy  with  the  material.  Images  of  Christ, 
of  Mary  and  of  saints  were  already  in  the  5th  (4th) 
century  worshipped  after  the  antique  fashion ;  men 
were  naive  enough  to  fancy  themselves  now  secure 
from  paganism,  and  they  transferred  their  dogmatic- 
al representation  from  the  deified  matter  in  an  espe- 
cial manner  to  the  images,  in  which — the  Aristo- 
telian scholastics  also  was  called  in  to  aid — they  were 
able  to  see  the  veritable  marriage  of  earthly  matter 
and  the  heavenly  (hoty)  form  (besides,  the  supersti- 
tious belief  in  images  not  painted  by  hand) .  Monas- 
ticism  fostered  image- worship  and  traded  with  it; 
scholastics  and  mystics  gave  it  dogmatic  form. 

But  monasticism  also  advanced  the  struggle  of  the 
Church  toward  independence,  in  contrast  with  Jus- 
tinian's state  constitution  which  fettered  the  Church. 
In  the  ?th  century  the  ecclesiastico-monkish  resist- 
ance to  Byzantium  retreated  behind  dyotheletism, 
just  as  in  the  5th  and  6th  centuries  it  had  fled 
behind  monophysitism ;  it  grew  more  and  more 
powerful  and  sought  to  gain  ecclesiastical  freedom, 
which  the  Occident  already  partly  enjoyed.  Power- 
ful but  barbarous  emperors  endeavored  to  put  an  end 
to  this  effort  by  substituting  the  army  for  priests 
and  monks,  and  to  break  the  independence  of  the 
Church  by  striking  at  its  peculiarity — the  image- 
image-  worship.  Thus  originated  the  frightful  image-con- 
troversy.  troversy,  which  lasted  more  than  a  century.  In  it 
the  emperors  fought  for  the  absolutism  of  the  state, 
and  had  as  an  ally  only  a  single  power,  the  military ; 


i^mmm 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     317 

for  the  remaining  allies,  namely,  religious  enlight- 
enment and  the  primitive  tradition  of  the  Church, 
which  spoke  against  the  images,  were  powerless. 
The  monks  and  bishops  had  on  their  side  the  culture, 
art  and  science  of  that  time  (John  Damsc,  Theo- 
doras Studita) ,  the  Roman  bishop  and,  furthermore, 
piety  and  living  tradition ;  they  fought  for  the  cen- 
tral dogma,  which  they  saw  exemplified  in  the  image- 
worship,  and  for  the  freedom  of  the  Church.  The 
latter  they  could  not  obtain.  The  outcome,  rather, 
was  that  the  Church  retained  its  peculiarity,  but 
definitely  lost  its  independence  with  reference  to  the 
state.     The  7th  council  at  Niceea  (787)  sanctioned    council  at 

v         '  Nicsea,  787. 

image- Worship    («(TxaGfidv    xai   Tt/iTjTtxijV   -puay.ovTjfftv   a-o- 

vifieiv9  ob  ßi-jV  tyjV  xard  tzigtiv  i^/iäiv  älrjfhv^v  Xarpziav^  y\-!zpiTzzi 

fiövy  rjy   #e{a   <pöatt    ...'*]  t9j<$  eüzovos  TL/iij    E7z\   to    -npioTÖ- 

TU7:ou  diaßa(vzi).  Its  logical  development  in  its  princi- 
pal points  was  obviously  concluded.  The  Divine  and 
Holy,  as  it  descended  through  the  incarnation  into 
the  sensuous,  created  for  itself  in  the  Church  a  sys- 
tem of  sensuous-supersensuous  objects,  which  offer 
themselves  for  man's  gratification.  The  image-the- 
osophy  corresponds  to  the  Neo-Platonic  idea  (joined 
with  the  incarnation-idea)  of  the  One,  unfolding  him- 
self in  a  multiplicity  of  graduated  ideas  (prototypes) , 
reaching  down  even  to  the  earthly.  To  Theodorus 
Studita  the  image  was  almost  more  important  than 
the  correct  dogmatic  watch- word ;  for  in  the  authen- 
tic image  one  has  the  real  Christ  and  the  real  holy 
thing — only  the  material  is  different. 


318       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

CONCLUSION. — SKETCH     OF     THE     HISTORIC     BEGIN- 
NINGS  OF    THE   ORTHODOX   SYSTEM. 

Origen's        l.  A  Christian  system  upon  the  foundation  of 

( Ihnstian 

system.  fae  four  principles :  God,  world,  freedom  and  Holy 
Scriptures,  tending  toward  the  doctrina  publica, 
and  making  use  of  the  total  yield  of  the  'EMyvui) 
natd&ia^  Origen  bequeathed;  yet  it  was  in  many  de- 
tails heterodox  and  as  a  science  of  the  faith  it  was 
intended  to  outbid  faith  itself.  Moreover  the  idea  of 
the  historical  redemption  through  the  true  God,  Jesus 
Christ,  was  not  the  all-controlling  one. 
church  not       2.  The  Church  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  the 

Content 

system,  system.  It  demanded,  (1)  The  identity  of  the  expres- 
sions of  faith  with  the  science  of  faith  (especially 
since  Methodius),  (2)  Such  a  restriction  of  the  use  of 
the  cEAAt)M7)  -atosia  that  the  realistic  sentences  of  the 
regula  fielet  and  of  the  Bible  should  remain  intact 
(the  opponents  of  Origen :  Epiphanius,  Apollinaris, 
the  monks,  Theophilus,  Jerome),  (3)  The  introduction 
of  the  idea  of  the  real  and  historical  redemption 
through  the  God-man  as  the  central  idea  (Athanasius 
and  his  followers) .  These  demands,  thoroughly  car- 
ried out,  broke  down  the  S}Tstem  of  Origen,  which  at 
the  bottom  was  a  philosophical  system.  But  break 
it  down,  no  one  of  the  cultured  Christians  at  first 
either  would  or  could ;  for  they  estimated  it  as  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   INCARNATION.     319 

science  from  which  one  dare  not  depart  and  which 
the  Christian  faith  needed  for  its  defence. 

3.  In  consequence  thereof,  indistinctness  and  free-  ^esJ^nd 
dorn  ruled  till  the  end  of  the  4th  century  in  the  Ori-  ^Jff  400" 
ental  Church,  into  which,  since  Constantine,  the  old 
world  had  gained  an  entrance.  To  be  sure,  through 
Arius  and  Athanasius  the  idea  of  redemption  had 
become  a  critical  problem,  and  later  it  obtained 
recognition  essentially  in  the  conception  which  the 
Christian  faith  at  that  time  demanded;  but  every- 
thing on  the  periphery  was  entirely  insecure:  A 
wholly  spiritualistic  philosophical  interpretation  of 
the  Bible  stood  side  by  side  with  a  coarse  realistic 
one,  a  massive  anthropomorphism  by  the  side  of  a 
Christian-tinted  Neo-Platonism,  the  modified  rule  of 
faith  by  the  side  of  its  letter.  Between  were  innum- 
erable shades ;  steersman  and  rudder  were  wanting, 
and  the  religion  of  the  second  order,  thinly  veiled 
paganism,  forced  itself  by  its  own  power,  not  only 
into  the  Church,  but  also  into  the  Church  doctrine. 
Right  well  did  the  Cappadocians  (Gregory  of  Nyssa) 
maintain  the  science  of  Origen  in  the  midst  of  at- 
tacks right  and  left,  and  they  lived  in  the  conviction 
that  it  was  possible  to  reconcile  ecclesiastical  faith 
with  free  science.  Ecclesiastically  inclined  laymen 
like  Socrates  acknowledged  them  to  be  in  the  right, 
and  at  the  same  time  Greek  theology  penetrated  into 
the  Occident  and  became  there  an  important  leaven. 
But  by  the  side  of  it  there  grew  up,  especially  after 
the  fall  of  Arianism,  in  close  alliance  with  barbar- 


320       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

ism  a  monkish  and  communal  orthodoxy,  which  was 
very  hostile  to  the  independent  ecclesiastical  science, 
and  the  latter  surely  neglected  no  means  of  warding 
off  the  heterodox  Hellenism.  Were  there  not  even 
bishops  (Synesius),  who  either  gave  a  different  in- 
terpretation to  the  principal  dogmas,  or  denied  them? 
contest         4.  Under  such  circumstances  the  situation  nar- 

Against 

sysgtemS  rowed  down  to  a  contest  against  Origen.  His  name 
signified  a  principle,  the  well-known  use  of  the 
"EXXrjvtxij  Ttatdeia  in  ecclesiastical  science.  In  Palestine 
it  was  the  passionate,  learned  and  narrow  Epipha- 
nius,  who  disturbed  the  circles  of  the  monkish  ad- 
mirers of  Origen,  together  with  bishop  John  of 
Jerusalem.  In  Egypt  the  bishop  Theophilus  found 
himself  obliged,  in  order  to  retain  his  influence,  to 
surrender  Origen  to  the  monks  and  to  condemn  him. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  consequential  facts  in  the 
history  of  theology.  Of  not  less  consequence  was  it, 
that  the  greatest  theologian  of  the  Occident  (Jerome), 
living  in  the  Orient,  once  an  admirer  of  Origen, 
made  common  cause  with  Theophilus,  in  order  to 
preserve  his  own  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  stamped 
Origen  as  a  heretic.  In  the  controversy  into  which 
he  on  that  account  fell  with  his  old  friend  Rufinus, 
the  Roman  bishop  took  a  part.  Origen  was  also  con- 
demned in  Rome  (399)  and  Rufinus  was  censured. 
However,  it  did  not  come  as  yet  to  general  ecclesias- 
tical action  against  Origen.  The  controversy  was 
lost  sight  of  in  the  contest  of  Theophilus  against 
Chrysostom.     Even  in  the  5th  and  6th  century  Ori- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   INCARNATION.     321 

gen  had  numerous  admirers  among  the  monks  and 
laymen  in  the  Orient,  and  his  heterodoxies  were 
partly  hushed  up  by  them,  partly  approved. 

5.  The  great  controversy  about  the  Christological  ^caiscong" 
dogma  in  the  5th  century  next  silenced  all  other  con-  inThesth 
tests.  But  the  difference  between  the  Alexandrians 
and  the  Antiochians  was  also  a  general  scientific  one. 
The  former  took  their  position  upon  tradition  and 
speculation  (concerning  the  realistically  conceived 
idea  of  redemption) ,  counting  still  on  some  adherents 
on  the  left  wing  who  inclined  toward  the  Origen- 
istic  Neo-Platonic  philosophy  and  who  were  tolerated 
if  they  hid  their  heterodoxies  behind  the  mysticism 
of  the  cult;  the  latter  were  sober  exegetes  with  a 
critical  tendency,  favoring  the  philosophy  of  Aris- 
totle, but  rejecting  the  spiritualizing  method  of  Ori- 
gen.  The  heterodox  element  in  the  Alexandrians, 
in  so  far  as  they  had  not  fully  thrown  themselves  into 
the  arms  of  traditionalism,  pointed  still  in  the  direc- 
tion of  pantheism  (re-interpretation  of  the  regula) ; 
in  the  Antiochians  it  lay  in  the  conception  of  the 
central  dogmas.  Forced  to  stand  on  guard  against 
the  old  heresies  which  had  wholly  withdrawn 
to  the  East,  the  Antiochians  remained  the  "anti- 
gnostic  "  theologians  and  boasted  that  they  carried 
on  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  The  last  of  them,  Theo-  Theo- 
doret,  appended  to  his  compendium  of  heretical  fables  compeu 
a  5th  Book:  "ftetcuv  doy/jArcM  krurop:q  ",  which  must  be 
recognized  as  the  first  systematic  effort  after  Origen, 

and  which  apparently  had  great  influence  upon  John 
21 


322        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

of  Damascus.  The  "epitome"  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. It  unites  the  trinitarian  and  Christological 
dogmas  with  the  whole  circle  of  dogmas  depending 
upon  the  creed.  It  shows  an  attitude  as  obviously 
Biblical,  as  it  is  ecclesiastical  and  reasonable.  It 
keeps  everywhere  to  the  "golden  mean".  It  is  al- 
most complete  and  also  pays  especial  regard  once  more 
to  the  realistic  eschatology.  It  admitted  none  of  the 
offensive  doctrines  of  Origen,  and  yet  Origen  was 
not  treated  as  a  heretic.  A  system  this  epitome  is 
not,  but  the  uniform  soberness  and  clearness  in  the 
treatment  of  details  and  the  careful  Biblical  proofs 
give  to  the  whole  a  unique  stamp.  It  could  not  of 
course  satisfy ;  in  the  first  place,  on  account  of  the 
person  of  its  author,  and  then  because  everything 
mystical  and  Neo-Platonic  is  wanting  in  its  doctrinal 
content. 
Mysteri-         6.  After  the  Chalcedon  creed  all  science  came  to 

osophy  and 

scnoiasti-  a  stand-still  in  the  orthodox  Church :  There  were  no 
longer  "  Antiochians",  or  "  Alexandrians  " ;  free  theo- 
logical work  died  out  almost  completely.  However, 
the  century  preceding  the  5th  council  shows  two 
remarkable  appearances.  First,  a  mysteriosophy 
gained  more  and  more  ground  in  the  Church,  which 
did  not  work  at  dogmas  but  stood  with  one  foot  upon 
the  ground  of  the  religion  of  the  second  order  (super- 
stition, cult),  with  the  other  upon  Neo-Platonism 
(the  pseudo-Areopagite) ;  second,  a  scholasticism 
grew  up,  which  presupposed  the  dogma  as  given  and 
appropriated  it  by  means  of  apprehensible  distinc- 


cisni. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     323 

tions  (Leontius  of  Byzantium) .  In  the  spirit  of  both 
tendencies  Justinian  carried  on  his  religious  politics. 
.Relying  thereon  he  closed  the  school  of  Athens, 
also  the  old  ecclesiastical  schools,  the  Origenistic  and 
Antiochian.     The  5th  council   sanctioned   the  con-     origen's 

Teaching 

demnation  of  Origen  (in  15  anathemas  his  heterodox  dei£n"d  by 
sentences  were  rejected)  and  the  condemnation  of  the  council. 
"  three  chapters".  Henceforth  there  was  no  longer  a 
theological  science  going  back  to  first  principles. 
There  existed  only  a  mysticism  of  cult  (truly,  with  a 
hidden  heterodox  trend)  and  scholasticism,  both  in 
certain  ways  in  closest  connection  (Maximus  Con- 
fessor). Thereby  a  condition  was  reached  for  which 
the  "conservatives"  at  all  times  had  longed;  but 
through  the  condemnation  of  Origen  and  the  Anti- 
ochians  one  was  now  defenceless  against  the  massive 
Biblicism  and  a  superstitious  realism,  and  that  was 
a  result  which  originally  men  had  not  desired.  In 
the  image-worship,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  fussy 
literal  translation  of  Gen.  1-3,  on  the  other,  is  re- 
vealed the  downfall  of  theological  science. 

7.  As  to  the  ßäürj<rt$,  the  Cappadocians  (in  addition  papp^^}^ 
to  Athanasius  and  Cyril)  above  all  were  considered  PMÜhr«S, 

n  ,,  /         i         a  •  Aristotle 

authoritative;    as  to  the  ^uarayuyyta^  the  Areopagite    andciuy- 

sostom 

and  Maximus;  as  to  <pdo<jo<pia^  Aristotle;  as  to  the  A"ie°ri~ 
öfitXta,  Chrysostom.  But  the  man  who  comprehended 
all  these,  who  transferred  the  scholastico-dialectic 
method,  which  Leontius  had  applied  to  the  dogma 
of  the  incarnation,  to  the  whole  compass  of  "the  di- 
vine dogmas"  as  Theodoret  had  established  them, 


324        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

John  of     was  j0hn  of  Damascus.     Through  him  the  Greek 

Damascus  ° 

T»,'!i!o.iox  Church  gained  its  orthodox  system,  but  not  the  Greek 
Church  alone.  The  work  of  John  was  none  the  less 
important  for  the  Occident.  It  became  the  founda- 
tion of  mediaeval  theology.  John  was  above  all  a 
scholastic.  Each  difficulty  was  to  him  only  a  chal- 
lenge to  artfully  split  the  conceptions  and  to  find  a 
new  conception  to  which  nothing  in  the  world  corre- 
sponds, except  just  that  difficulty  which  is  to  be 
removed  by  the  new  conception.  The  fundamental 
question  also  of  the  science  of  the  Middle  Ages  was 
already  propounded  by  him :  The  question  of  nomi- 
alism  and  realism ;  he  solved  it  by  a  modified  Aris- 
totelianism.  All  doctrines  had  already  been  provided 
for  him;  he  finds  them  in  the  decrees  of  councils 
and  the  works  of  the  acknowledged  fathers.  He 
considered  it  the  duty  of  science  to  work  them  over. 
Thereby  the  two  principal  dogmas  were  placed  within 
the  circle  of  the  teachings  of  the  old  anti-gnostically 
interpreted  symbol.  Of  the  allegorical  explanation 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  a  very  modest  use  is  made. 
The  letter  of  Scripture  dominates  on  the  whole,  at 
any  rate  much  more  decidedly  than  with  the  Cappa- 
docians.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  natural  theol- 
ogy is  also  closely  concealed ;  highly  realistic  Scrip- 
ture narrations,  which  are  piously  received,  twine 
themselves  around  it.  But  what  is  most  perplexing 
— the  strict  connection  which  in  Athanasius,  Apol- 
linaris  and  Cyril  unites  the  trinity  and  the  incarna- 
tion, in  general,  the  dogma  which  is  associated  with 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   INCARNATION.     325 

the  benefit  of  salvation,  is  entirely  dissolved.     John    •'"'"!  llf" 

'  «  quires 

has  innumerable  dogmas,  which  must  be  believed;  numerable 

-,  -,  .  Dogmas. 

but  they  stand  no  longer  clear,  under  a  consistent 
scheme.  The  end  to  which  the  dogma  once  contrib- 
uted as  a  means  still  remained,  but  the  means  are 
changed ;  it  is  the  cult,  the  mysteries,  into  which  the 
4th  book  also  overflows.  Consequently  the  system 
lacks  an  inward,  vital  unity.  In  reality  it  is  not  an 
explanation  of  faith,  but  an  explanation  of  its  pre- 
suppositions, and  it  has  its  unity  in  the  form  of  treat- 
ment, in  the  high  antiquity  of  the  doctrines  and  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  dogmas  have  become  the 
sacred  legacy  of  the  classical  antiquity  of  the  Church ; 
but  they  have  sunk,  so  to  speak,  into  the  ground. 
Image-worship >,  mysticism  and  scholasticism  dom- 
inate the  Church. 


BOOK  II. 

EXPANSION  AND  RECASTING  OF  THE  DOGMA 
INTO  A  DOCTRINE  CONCERNING  SIN,  GRACE 
AND  THE  MEANS  OF  GRACE  UPON  THE  BASIS 
OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORICAL   SURVEY. 

Baur,  Vorl.  üb.  d.  christl.  DG.,  2.  Bd.,  1866.  Bach,  Die 
DG.  des  MA.,  2  Bde.,  1873  seq.  Schwane,  DG.  der  mittl. 
Zeit,  1882.  Thomasius- Seeberg,  Die  christl.  DG.,  2.  Bd.,  1. 
Abth.,  1888. 

Basal  Eie-    ril  HE  history  of  dogma  in  the  Occident  during 

ments  of 

History  of    JL_      the  thousand  years  between  the  migration  of 

Dogma  iu  J  ° 

Occident.  ^ie  nations  an(j  the  Reformation  was  evolved  from 
the  following  elements :  (1)  From  the  distinctive  pecu- 
liarity of  Occidental  Christianity  as  represented  by 
Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Lactantius,  etc.,  (2)  From  the 
Hellenic  theology  introduced  by  the  theologians  of 
the  4th  century,  (3)  From  Augustinianism,  i.e.  from 
•  the  Christianity  of  Augustine,  (4) — in  a  secondar}^ 
degree — From  the  new  needs  of  the  Romano-Ger- 
manic nations.  The  Roman  bishop  became  in  an 
increasing  measure  the  decisive  authority.  The  his- 
tory of  dogma  in  the  Middle  Ages  is  the  history  of 

326 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      327 

the  dogma  of  the  Roman  Church,  although  theology- 
had  its  home,  not  in  Italy,  but  in  North  Africa 
and  France. 

2.  The  carrying  out  of  spiritual  monotheism,  the     ^J^|" 
disclosure  of  individualism  and  the  delineation  of  the 
inward  process  of  the  Christian  life  (sin  and  grace) 
indicate  the  importance  of  Augustine  as  a  pupil  of 

the  Neo-Platonists  and  of  Paul.  But  since  he  also 
championed  the  old  dogma  and  at  the  same  time 
brought  forward  new  problems  and  aims  for  the 
Church  as  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth,  his 
rich  mind  bore  within  itself  all  the  tensions  whose 
living  strength  determined  the  history  of  dogma  in 
the  Occident.  Even  the  system  of  morality  and  the 
sacramental  superstition,  which  later  almost  absorbed 
Augustinianism,  were  placed  by  Augustine  among 
the  first  principles  of  his  doctrine  of  religion.  As  a 
new  element,  Aristotelianism  was  added  during  the 
later  Middle  Ages,  and  this  strengthened  the  afore- 
said system  of  morality,  but  on  the  other  hand  it 
beneficially  limited  the  Neo-Platonic  mysticism. 

3.  The  piety  of  Augustine  did  not  live  in  the  old    gjjjf^g: 
dogma,  but  he  respected  it  as  authority  and  used  it    TEeoiogyd 
as  building-material  for  his  doctrine  of  religion.    Ac- 
cordingly dogma  in  the  Occident  became,  on  the  one 

side,  Church  discipline  and  law  and,  on  the  other, 
far-reaching  transformations  within  theology  it- 
self. The  consequence  was  that  during  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  in  spite  of  all  changes,  men  surrendered 
themselves  to  the  illusion  of  simply  persisting  in  the 


328        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Pietism, 
Sacra- 
ments, Sci- 
entific 
Theology. 


dogma  of  the  5th  century,  because  the  new  was  either 
not  recognized  as  such,  or  was  reduced  to  a  mere  ad- 
ministrative rule  in  the  indeed  still  controverted,  au- 
thority of  the  Roman  bishop.  The  Reformation,  i.e. 
the  Tridentine  council,  first  put  an  end  to  this  state 
of  affairs.  Only  since  the  16th  century,  therefore, 
can  the  history  of  dogma  in  the  Middle  Ages  be  sep- 
arated from  the  history  of  theology,  and  described. 

4.  Especially  to  be  observed  are,  (1)  The  history  of 
pietism  (Augustine,  Bernard,  Francis,  so-called  re- 
formers before  the  Reformation)  in  its  significance 
for  the  recasting  of  dogma,  (2)  The  doctrine  of  the  sac- 
raments, (3)  Scientific  theology  (Augustine  and  Aris- 
totle, fides  et  ratio)  in  its  influence  upon  the  free  cul- 
tivation of  doctrine.  Back  of  these  developments 
there  lay  in  the  later  Middle  Ages  the  question  of  per- 
sonal surety  of  faith  and  of  personal  Christian 
character,  which  was  repressed  by  the  active  power 
of  the  visible  Church.  The  latter  was  the  silent  co- 
efficient of  all  spiritual  and  theological  movements 
until  it  became  plainly  audible  in  the  contest  over 
the  right  of  the  pope. 

5.  Division:  (1)  Occidental  Christianity  and  Oc- 
ot's'infetc.   cidental  Theology  before  Augustine,  (2)  Augustine, 

(3)  Provisional  Adjustment  of  Prse-Augustinian  and 
Augustinian  Christianity  until  Gregory  I.,  (4)  The 
Carolingian  Revival,  (5)  The  Clugnian-Bernardine 
Epoch,  (6)  Epoch  of  the  Mendicant  Orders,  of  Scho- 
lasticism and  of  the  Reformers  before  the  Reforma- 
tion. 


Divisions 
in   History 
of  Dogma 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      329 


CHAPTER  II. 

OCCIDENTAL   CHRISTIANITY  AND    OCCIDENTAL   THEO- 
LOGIANS  BEFORE   AUGUSTINE. 

Nöldechen,  Tertullian,  1890.  O.  Ritschl,  Cyprian,  1885. 
Förster,  Ambrosius,  1884.  Reinkens,  Hilarius,  1864.  Zöckler, 
Hieronymus,  1865.  Völter,  Donatismus,  1882.  Nitzsch, 
Boethius,  1860. 

1.  Occidental  Christianity,  in  contradistinction  Tertuinan, 

^  Augustine 

to  Oriental,  was  determined  by  two  personalities —     apopes.e 
Tertullian    and  Augustine — and,  in  addition,  by  the 
policy,  conscious  of  its  aim  in  serving  and  ruling,  of 
the  Roman  Church  and  its  bishops. 

2.  The  Christianity  of  Tertullian  was  determined    christian- 

J  ity  of 

through  contrast  by  the  old,  enthusiastic  and  strict  Tertulhan- 
faith  and  the  anti -gnostic  rule  of  faith.  In  accord- 
ance with  his  juristic  training  he  endeavored  to  secure 
everywhere  in  religion  legal  axioms  and  formulas, 
and  he  conceived  the  relationship  between  God  and 
man  as  that  of  civil  law.  Furthermore  his  theology 
bears  a  syllogistic-dialectical  stamp ;  it  does  not  phil- 
osophize, but  it  reasons,  alternating  between  argu- 
ments ex  auctoritate  and  e  ratione.  On  the  other 
hand,  Tertullian  frequently  strongly  impresses  one 
by  his  psychological  observation  and  indeed  by  an 
empirical  psychology.  Finally  his  writings  man- 
ifest ^practical,  evangelical  attitude,  determined  by 
the  fear  of  God  as  the  Judge,  and  an  insistance  upon 
will  and  action,  which  the  speculative  Greeks  lacked. 


330        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Natural- 
ized in 
Occident 
by  Cyp- 
rian. 


Occident 

Receives 

Origenistic 

Theology 
and  Mo- 

nasticism 

from 

Orient. 


In  all  these  points  and  in  their  mixture  his  Chris- 
tianity became  typical  for  the  Occident. 

3.  The  Christianity  of  Tertullian,  blunted  in  many 
respects  and  morally  shallow  ("  de  opere  et  eleemos- 
ynis  "),  yet  clerically  worked  out  ("  de  imitate  eccle- 
siae"),  became  naturalized  in  the  Occident  through 
Cyprian,  the  great  authority  of  Latin  Christendom ; 
side  by  side  with  it  that  Ciceronian  theology  with 
apocalyptical  additions,  represented  by  Minucius  and 
Lactantius,  maintained  itself.  Religion  was  "the 
law",  but  after  the  Church  had  under  compulsion  de- 
clared all  sins  pardonable  (Novatian  crisis),  religion 
was  also  the  ecclesiastical  penitential  institute.  No 
theologian,  however,  before  Augustine  was  able  to 
really  adjust  "lex"  and  "venia".  In  Rome  and 
Carthage  they  labored  at  the  strengthening  of  the 
Church,  at  the  composing  of  an  ecclesiastical  rule  of 
morals  possible  of  fulfilment,  and  at  the  education  of 
the  community  through  divine  service  and  peniten- 
tial rules.  The  mass-Christianity  created  the  clergy 
and  the  sacraments,  the  clergy  sanctified  the  mon- 
grel religion  for  the  laity.  The  formulas  were  al- 
most entirely  Tertullianic,  yet  his  spirit  was  being 
crushed  out. 

4.  The  Occident  and  the  Orient  were  already  sep- 
arated in  the  age  of  Constantine,  but  the  Arian  con- 
test brought  them  again  together.  The  Occidental 
orthodoxy  supported  the  Oriental  and  received  from 
it  two  great  gifts :  Scientific  (Origenistic)  theology 
and  monasticism.     These  were  in  reality  a  single 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       331 

gift,  for  monasticism  (the  ideal  of  divinely  inspired 
celibacy  in  close  union  with  God)  is  the  practical  ap- 
plication of  that  "science".  Thus  the  Occidental 
theology  of  the  last  half  of  the  4th  century  is  repre- 
sented by  two  lines  which  converge  in  Augustine : 
The  line  of  the  Greek  scholars  (Hilary,  Victor- 
inus  Rhetor,  Rufinus,  Jerome)  and  the  line  of  the 
genuine  Latin  scholars  (Optatus,  Pacian,  Pruden- 
tius).  In  both  lines,  however,  must  Ambrose  be 
named  as  theologically  the  most  important  fore- 
runner of  Augustine. 

5.  The  Greek  scholars  transplanted  the  scientific    Ambrose, 

x  \  ictorinus, 

(pneumatic)  exegesis  of  Philo  and  Origen  and  the  ^SSSiiJ5 
speculative  orthodox  theology  of  the  Cappadocians  pagite.  " 
into  the  Occident.  With  the  first  they  silenced  the 
doubts  in  regard  to  the  Old  Testament  and  met  the 
onset  of  Manichseism,  with  the  second  they,  espe- 
cially Ambrose,  relaxed  the  tension  which  existed 
until  after  the  year  381,  between  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
Orient  and  that  of  the  Occident.  Through  three  suc- 
cessive contributions  Greek  speculation  entered  into 
the  theology  of  the  Occident,  (1)  Through  Ambrose, 
Victorinus  and  Augustine,  (2)  Through  Boethius  in 
the  Gth  century  (here  Aristotelian),  (3)  Through  the 
Areopagite  in  the  9th  century.  In  Victorinus  is  al- 
ready found  that  combination  of  Neo-Platonism  and 
Paulinism,  which  forms  the  foundation  of  the  Au- 
gustinian  theology ;  in  Ambrose  is  already  conspicu- 
ous that  union  of  speculation  and  religious  individ- 
ualism, which  characterizes  the  great  African. 


332        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Problem  of 

Latin 

Church. 


Donatist 

Con- 
troversy. 


G.  The  real  problem  of  the  Latin  Church  was  the 
application  of  the  Christian  law,  and  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal treatment  of  sinners.  In  the  Orient  they  laid 
greater  weight  upon  the  effects  of  the  cultus  as  a 
single  institution  and  upon  silent  self-education 
through  asceticism  and  prayer;  in  the  Occident  they 
had  a  greater  sense  of  standing  in  religious  relations 
to  law,  in  which  they  were  responsible  to  the  Church, 
but  also  might  expect  from  it  sacramental  and  pre- 
catory assistance  through  individual  appropriation. 
The  sense  of  sin  as  open  guilt  was  more  strongly 
developed.  This  reacted  upon  their  conception  of  the 
Church.  As  regards  the  development  of  the  latter, 
Optatus  (de  scliismate  Donatistarum)  was  the  fore- 
runner of  Augustine,  as  regards  the  stricter  concep- 
tion of  sin,  Ambrose. 

The  Donatist  controversy,  in  which  the  Montanist 
and  Novatian  controversies  were  continued  under  a 
peculiar  limitation,  had  its  roots  in  personal  quar- 
rels ;  but  it  soon  acquired  an  importance  on  principle. 
The  Donatist  party  (in  the  course  of  development  it 
became  an  African  national  party,  assumed  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  state,  which  oppressed  it,  a  free,  eccle- 
siastical attitude  and  even  cultivated  a  revolutionary 
enthusiasm)  denied  the  validity  of  an  ordination 
administered  by  a  traitor,  and  therefore  also  the 
validity  of  the  sacraments  which  a  bishop,  conse- 
crated by  a  traitor,  administered  (consequently  the 
demand  for  re-baptism) .  It  was  the  last  remnant  of 
the  old  demand  that  in  the  Church  not  only  the  in- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       333 

stitution,  but  above  all  the  persons  must  be  hol}T, 
and  the  Donatists  were  able  to  appeal  for  their  theses 
to  the  celebrated  Cyprian.  At  least  a  minimum  of 
personal  worthiness  in  the  clergy  should  still  be 
necessary,  in  order  that  the  Church  might  remain 
the  true  Church.  In  opposition  to  it  the  Catholics 
drew  the  consequences  of  the  "objective"  Church 
idea.  Optatus  above  all  asserted  that  the  truth  and  optatus 
holiness  of  the  Church  resides  in  the  sacraments,  and 
that  therefore  the  personal  quality  of  the  adminis- 
trator is  immaterial  ("  ecclesia  una  est,  cuius  sanc- 
titas  de  sacramentis  colligitur,  non  de  superbia 
personarum  ponderatur") ;  he  furthermore  showed, 
that  the  Church,  in  contrast  with  the  conventicle  of 
the  Donatists,  held  the  guarantee  of  its  truth  in  its 
Catholicity.  They  also  hit  upon  an  evangelical  prin- 
ciple in  so  far  as  they  emphasized  faith  at  the  side 
and  with  the  sacrament,  in  opposition  to  personal 
sanctity.  Thus  already  prior  to  Augustine  the  found- 
ation for  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Church 
and  the  sacraments  was  laid  by  Optatus.  But  Am-  Ambrose 
brose  especially  had  emphasized  faith  in  connection 
with  a  deeper  conception  of  sin.  Since  Tertullian 
the  conception  of  sin  as  Vitium  originis  and  as  sin 
against  God  was  known  in  the  Occident.  Ambrose 
extended  the  view  in  both  directions  and  appreciated 
accordingly  the  importance  of  the  Pauline  idea  of 
gratia,  justification  and  remissio  peccatorum  ("il- 
lud  mihi  prodest,  quod  non  justificamur  ex  operi- 
bus  legis  .   .   .  gloriabor  in  Christo;  non  gloriabor, 


334        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

quia  iustus  sum,  sed  gloriabor,  quia  redemptus 
sum  ") .  It  was  of  epochal  significance  that  people 
in  the  Occident  became  attentive  to  Pauline  ideas  of 
sin  and  grace,  law  and  gospel,  at  the  very  time 
when  they  externalized  the  conception  of  the  Church 
and  created  a  doctrine  of  the  sacraments.  Ambrose 
himself,  it  is  true,  was  strongly  influenced  by  the 
common  Catholic  views  respecting  law,  virtue  and 
merit. 


Peculiar-        The  more  vital  conception  of  God,  the  strong  feel- 

iiies  of  j.  c 

cSätfan-  m&  °f  responsibility  to  the  Judge,  the  consciousness 
of  God  as  a  moral  Power  restrained  or  relaxed  by  no 
speculations  concerning  nature,  the  conception  of 
Christ  as  the  man  whose  work  for  us  possesses  in  the 
sight  of  God  an  infinite  value,  the  placatio  (satis- 
f  actio)  Dei  through  his  death,  the  Church  as  a  peda- 
gogical institution  securely  relying  upon  the  means 
of  salvation  (the  sacraments),  the  Holy  Scripture  as 
lex  Dei,  the  symbol  as  the  sure  content  of  doctrine, 
the  conceiving  of  the  Christian  life  from  the  points  of 
view  of  guilt,  atonement  and  merit,  even  if  conceived 
more  ecclesiastically  than  religiously, — in  these  are 
represented  the  peculiarities  of  Occidental  Chris- 
Augustine   tianity  prior  to  Augustine.     He   affirmed   and  yet 

Affirms  L  °  J 

^fornS18"  transformed  them.  Above  all  the  soteriological  ques- 
tion awaited  a  solution.  By  the  side  of  Manichsean, 
Origenistic-Neo-Platonic  and  stoic-rationalistic  con- 
ceptions of    evil  and  of  redemption  there  flickered 


forms 
Them. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   SIN,  ETC.      335 

also  near  the  year  400  here  and  there  in  the  Occident 
Pauline  conceptions,  which,  as  a  rule,  covered  moral 
laxities,  yet  nevertheless  in  some  representatives 
were  expressions  for  evangelical  convictions  which 
did  not  harmonize  with  the  times  and  would  there- 
fore of  necessity  be  fatal  to  the  Catholic  Church  ( Jo- 
vinian) .  If  one  considers  in  addition  that  about  the 
year  400  paganism  was  still  a  power,  one  can  com- 
prehend what  a  problem  awaited  Augustine!  He 
would  not  have  been  able  to  solve  it  for  the  whole 
Occidental  Church,  had  the  latter  not  been  still  a 
unit  at  that  time.  The  Western  Roman  empire 
still  existed,  and  it  almost  seems  as  though  its  miser- 
able existence  had  only  been  prolonged  to  make  the 
world-historical  work  of  Augustine  possible. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  WORLD-HISTORICAL     POSITION    OF    AUGUSTINE 
AS    REFORMER   OF   CHRISTIAN   PIETY. 

Bindermann,  der  h.  Aug.,  3  Bde.,  1844-69.  Böhringer, 
Augustin,  2.  Aufl.,  1877  f.  Reuter,  August.  Studien,  1887. 
Harnack,  Aug. 's  Confessionen,  1888.  Bigg,  The  Christian 
Platonists  of  Alex.,  1886. 

One  may  seek  to  construct  Augustinianism  from 
the  premises  of  the  current  Occidental  Christianity 
(see  the  previous  chapter)  or  from  the  course  of  the 
training  of  Augustine  (the  pagan  father,  the  pious 
Christian  mother,  Cicero's  Hortensius,  ManichsBism, 
Aristotelianism,   Neo-Platonism  with  its  mysticism 


Elements 
in  AugUS- 
t  iniamsm. 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Augustine 
Redis- 
covered 
Religion. 


united  Re- 
ligion and 
Morality. 


Made  Re- 
ligion a 
Thing  of 
the  Heart. 


and  skepticism,  the  influence  of  Ambrose  and  of 
monasticism),  but  neither  of  these  methods  of  proced- 
ure, nor  even  both  of  them,  will  entirely  accomplish 
the  end  in  view.;  Augustine  in  religion  discovered 
religion ;  he  recognized  his  heart  as  the  lowest,  the 
living  God  as  the  highest  good ;  lie  possessed  an  en- 
chanting ability  and  facility  for  expressing  inward 
observations:  In  this  consist  his  individuality  and 
his  greatness.  In  the  love  of  God  and  in  the  sub- 
dued grief  of  his  soul  he  found  that  elation  which 
lifts  man  above  the  world  and  makes  him  another 
being,  while  prior  to  him  theologians  had  dreamed 
that  man  must  become  another  being  in  order  to  be 
able  to  be  saved,  or  had  contented  themselves  with 
striving  after  virtue.  He  separated  nature  and  grace, 
but  bound  together  religion  and  morality  and  gave  to 
the  idea  of  the  good  a  new  meaning.  He  destroyed 
the  phantom  of  the  popular  antique  psychology  and 
moralism;  he  discarded  the  intellectualism  and 
optimism  of  antiquity,  but  allowed  the  former  to  re- 
vive again  in  the  pious  thought  of  the  man  who  found 
in  the  loving  God  true  existence ;  and  in  terminat- 
ing Christian  pessimism,  he  at  the  same  time  passed 
beyond  it  through  the  surety  of  pardoning  grace. 
But  more  than  all,  he  held  before  every  soul  its  own 
gloiy  and  responsibility — God  and  the  soul,  the  soul 
and  its  God.  He  rescued  religion  from  its  com- 
munal and  cultus  form  and  restored  it  to  the  heart 
as  a  gift  and  as  a  gracious  life.  Love,  unfeigned 
humility  and  strength  to  overcome  the  world,  these 


DEVELOPMENT   OP  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      337 


Prae-Au- 

gustinian 

Piety. 


are  the  elements  of  religion  and  its  blessedness ;  they 
spring  from  the  actual  possession  of  the  loving  God. 
"Happy  are  the  men  who  consider  Thee  their 
strength,  who  from  their  heart  walk  in  Thy  steps". 
This  message  Augustine  preached  to  the  Christianity 
of  his  time  and  of  all  times. 

1.  The  Prge-Augustinian  piety  was  a  wavering  be- 
tween fear  and  hope.  It  lived  not  in  the  faith. 
Knowing  and  doing  good,  it  taught,  brings  salvation, 
after  that  man  has  received  forgiveness  for  past  sins 
through  baptism ;  but  man  does  not  experience  sal- 
vation. Neither  baptism  nor  asceticism  freed  from 
fear ;  men  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  trust  in  their 
own  virtue,  nor  guilty  and  believing  enough  to  take 
comfort  in  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ.  Fear  and 
hope  remained;  they  were  tremendous  forces.  They 
shook  the  world  and  built  the  Church ;  but  they  were 
not  able  to  create  for  the  individual  a  blessed  life. 
Augustine  advanced  from  sins  to  sin  and  quilt,  from    G}int  and 

°  u  '  Grace. 

baptism  to  grace.  The  exclusiveness  and  firmness 
with  which  he  affiliated  the  guilty  man  and  the  liv- 
ing God  is  the  new  teaching  which  distinguishes 
him  from  all  his  predecessors.  "  Against  Thee,  Thee 
only,  have  I  sinned  " — "  Thou,  O  Lord,  hast  created 
us  in  thy  likeness,  and  our  heart  is  restless  till  it 
finds  its  rest  in  Thee" — "da  quod  tubes,  et  tube 
quod  vis  " — "  eo,  quod  quisque  novit,  non  fruitur, 
nisi  et  id  diligit,  neque  quisquam  in  eo,  quod  per- 
cipit,  X)ermanet  nisi  dilectione".  This  is  the  mighty 
concord  which  his  ear  caught  from  the  Holy  Scrip- 


Fear  and 
Hope. 


338        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Against 
God 


tures,  from  the  deepest  contemplation  of  the  human 
heart  and  from  the  speculation  concerning  the  first 
A11Sn' is  aD^  ^as^  things.  In  a  spirit  devoid  of  God  all  is  sin ; 
that  the  Spirit  exists  is  the  only  good  remaining. 
Sin  is  the  sphere  and  the  form  of  the  inner  life  of 
every  natural  man.  Furthermore,  all  sin  is  sin 
against  God ;  for  a  created  spirit  has  only  one  last- 
ing relationship,  namely  that  to  God.  Sin  is  the 
disposition  to  be  an  independent  being  (superbia)  ; 
therefore  is  its  form  desire  and  unrest.  In  this  un- 
rest is  revealed  the  never  appeased  lust  and  fear. 
The  latter  is  evil,  the  former  when  striving  after 
bliss  (blessedness)  is  good,  but  when  striving  after 
perishable  goods  is  evil.  We  must  strive  to  be  happy 
("infelices  esse  nolumus  sed  nee  velle  possumus") 
— this  striving  is  the  life  bestowed  upon  us  by  God 
which  cannot  be  lost — but  there  is  only  one  good,  one 
bliss  and  one  rest:  "Mihi  adhaerere  deo  bonum 
est."  Only  in  the  atmosphere  of  God  does  the  soul 
live  and  rest.  But  the  Lord  who  created  us  has  re- 
deemed us.  Through  grace  and  love  which  have 
been  revealed  in  Christ,  he  calls  us  back  from  dis- 
traction to  himself,  makes  ex  nolentibus  volentes  and 
bestows  upon  us  thereby  an  incomprehensible  new 
being  which  consists  of  faith  and  love.  These  orig- 
inate in  God ;  they  are  the  means  by  which  the  living 
God  imparts  himself  to  us.  But  faith  is  faith  in  the 
"  gratia  gratis  data",  and  love  is  joy  in  God  blended 
with  that  humility  which  renounces  all  that  is  indi- 
vidual.    The  soul  regards  these  favors  as  a  perpetual 


Mihi  Ad- 
haerere 
Deo  Bo- 
num Est. 


Gratia 
Gratis 
Data. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      339 

gift  and  a  holy  mystery,  in  which  it  acquires  every- 
thing that  God  requires ;  for  a  heart  endowed  with 
faith  and  love  acquires  that  justice  which  prevails 
before  God  and  possesses  that  peace  which  exalts 
above  unrest  and  fear.  It  cannot  indeed  for  a  mo- 
ment forget  that  it  is  still  entangled  with  the  world 
and  in  sin,  yet  it  always  associates  grace  with  sin. 
Sin  and  misery  overcome  b$  faith,  humility  and  love 
— that  is  Christian  piety.  In  the  absorbing  thoughts 
of  faith  which  thus  continually  recur  the  soul  is  at 
rest  and  yet  it  ever  strives  irrepressibly  upward. 

In  this  mode  of  feeling  and  thinking  religion  dis-    Augustin- 

°  O  O  lan   piety 

closed  itself  more  deeply,  and  the  Augustinian  type    ItlnTard 
of  piety  became   the   authoritative  standard   in  the    Occident. 
Occident  till  the  Reformation,  yes  even  till  this  day; 
however  a  quietistic,  one  might  almost  say  a  nar- 
cotic element  is  hidden  therein  which  is  not  found 
in  the  Gospel. 

2.  In  the  foregoing  the  piety  of  Augustine  is  only  E5^nticin 
one-sidedly  defined.     There  was  also  in  his  piety  a    hls  Piety* 
Catholic  spirit;  yes,  he  first  created  that  intermin- 
gling of  the  freest,  individual  surrender  to  the  Divine 
with  the  constant,  obedient  submission  to  the  Church 
as  an  institution  endowed  with  the  means  of  grace, 
so  characteristic  of  Occidental  Catholicism.     In  de- 
tail the  following  points  are  especially  to  be  empha- 
sized, in  which  he  affirmed  the  "  Catholic  "  element, 
and  even  enhanced  the  same:    (1)   First,   he  trans- 
formed the  authorit}'  of  the  Church  into  a  religious    Authority 
power  and  gave  to  practical  religion  a  doctrine  con-     t'lmrch- 


340        OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Church 

Organ  of 

Grace. 


God  Ex- 
changed 
for  Grace 
and   Sacra- 

n  if  nits. 


earning  the  Church.  In  this  he  was  guided  by  two 
considerations,  viz. :  Skepticism  and  an  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  ecclesiastical  communion  as  an  histor- 
ical power.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  convinced  that 
the  isolated  individual  could  not  by  any  means  arrive 
at  a  full  and  safe  understanding  of  the  truth  of  the 
revealed  teaching — it  presents  too  many  stumbling- 
blocks;  like  as  he  therefore  threw  himself  into  the 
arms  of  the  authority  of  the  Church,  so  he  taught  in 
general,  that  the  Church  stands  for  the  truth  of 
the  faith,  where  the  individual  is  not  able  to  rec- 
ognize the  same,  and  that  accordingly  acts  of  faith 
are  at  the  same  time  acts  of  obedience.  In  the  sec- 
ond place,  while  breaking  with  moralism  he  recog- 
nized that  the  gratia  had  had  an  historical  effect  and 
had  made  the  Church  its  organism.  Insight  into  the 
position  of  the  Church  in  the  tottering  Roman  em- 
pire strengthened  this  view.  But  not  only  as  skeptic 
and  historian  did  Augustine  recognize  the  import- 
ance of  the  Church,  but  also  by  virtue  of  his  strong 
piety.  This  piety  wanted  external  authority  as 
every  living  religious  faith  has  always  wanted  it  and 
will  want  it.  Augustine  found  it  in  the  testimony 
of  the  Church.  (2)  Although  he  unequivocally  ac- 
knowledged in  his  Confessions :  Religion  is  the  pos- 
sessing of  the  living  God,  yet  in  the  interpretation 
of  his  theology  he  exchanged  the  living  God  for 
the  gratia,  the  latter  for  the  sacraments,  and  thus 
compressed,  as  it  were,  that  which  is  most  living 
and  most  free  into  a  material  benefit  entrusted  to  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF    DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      341 

Church.  Misled  by  the  burning  conflicts  of  the  time 
(Donatist  controversy)  he  thus  paid  the  heaviest 
tribute  to  current  ideas  and  founded  the  sacramental 
Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.'  But  wherever  he  goes 
beyond  the  sacraments  back  to  God  himself,  there 
in  subsequent  times  he  has  always  been  in  danger 
of  neutralizing  the  importance  also  of  Christ  and  of 
losing  himself  in  the  abyss  of  the  thought  of  the 
sole-efficiency  of  God  (doctrine  of  predestination). 
(3)  Although  he  acknowledged  with   all  his  heart  Doctrine  of 

v    '  ö  ö  Merits. 

the  gratia  gratis  data  and,  consequently,  the  sover- 
eignty of  faith,  yet  he  also  united  with  it  the  old 
scheme,  that  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  single  indi- 
vidual depends  upon  "  merits  "  and  upon  these  only. 
He  accordingly  saw  in  the  merita  resulting  from 
the  fides  caritate  formata,  which  indeed  are  Dei 
munera,  the  aim  of  all  Christian  development,  and 
he  thereby  not  only  made  it  easy  for  futurity  to  re- 
tain the  old  scheme  under  the  cover  of  his  words, 
but  he  himself  also  failed  to  perceive  the  real  essence 
of  faith  (i.e.  steadfast  confidence  in  God,  result- 
ing from  the  assurance  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin)  as 
the  highest  gift  of  God.  His  doctrine,  however,  of 
instilled  love  was  neutral  as  regards  the  historical 
Christ.  (4)  Although  Augustine  was  able  to  testify  ^ffS*6 
to  the  joy  of  that  blessedness  which  the  Christian  Thls  Llfe 
already  possesses  in  faith  and  in  love,  yet  he  was 
not  able  to  present  a  definite  aim  to  the  present  life ; 
he  shared  in  general  the  traditional  Catholic  disposi- 
tion of  mind,  and  the  quietism  of  his  piety  imparted 


342        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

to  Christian  activity  no  new  impulses.  That  it 
should  receive  such  through  the  work  "de  civitate 
dei  "  was  in  reality  not  intended  by  Augustine. 
7  Augustine's  theology  is  to  be  understood  upon  the 
basis  of  the  peculiar  form  of  his  piety.  His  religious 
theories  are  in  part  nothing  else  than  theoretically 
explained  frames  of  mind  and  experiences.  But 
in  these  were  also  collected  the  manifold  religious 
experiences  and  moral  reflections  of  the  old  world : 
The  psalms  and  Paul,  Plato  and  the  Neo-Platonists, 
the  moralists,  Tertullian  and  Ambrose, — all  are 
found  again  in  Augustine. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    WORLD-HISTORICAL    POSITION    OF    AUGUSTINE 
AS   TEACHER     OF    THE    CHURCH. 

Augustine       The  ancient  Church  expounded  its  theology  from 
Doctrines.    the    centres    of    Christplogy    and  the  doctrine    of 
freedom  (doctrine  of  morals) ;  Augustine  drew  the 
two  centres  together.     The  good  became  to  him  the 
axis  for  the  contemplation  of  all  blessings.     Moral 
good  and  redemptive  good  should  include  each  other 
(ipsa  virtus  et  praemium  virtutis) .     He  brought 
dogmatics  down  from  the  heavens ;  yet  did  not  dis- 
card the  old  conception  but  amalgamated   it  with 
the  new.     In  his  interpretations  of  the  symbol  this 
tSne^ow-  union  is  most  clearly  manifest.     Through  his  prse- 
epHcatedm"  Catholic  development  and  conversion,  then  through 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      343 

his  conflict  with  Donatism  and  Pelagianism,  Chris- 
tianity appeared  to  him  in  a  new  form;  but  inas- 
much as  he  considered  the  symbol  as  the  essence  of 
doctrine,  his  conception  of  doctrine  necessarily  be- 
came complicated — a  union  of  the  old  Catholic  theol- 
ogy and  of  the  old  ecclesiastical  scheme  with  his 
new  thoughts  on  the  doctrine  of  faith  compressed 
into  the  frame  of  the  symbol.  This  mixture  of  ele- 
ments, which  the  Occidental  Church  has  preserved 
until  this  day,  subsequently  caused  contradictions 
and  rendered  the  old  dogma  impressionless. 

In  detail  the  following  discrepancies  in  the  theol-  5S?  m^'s 
ogy  of  Augustine  are  especially  to  be  noted :  (1)  The  eo  ogy' 
discrepancies  between  .symbol  and  Scripture.  Those 
who  place  Scripture  above  the  symbol,  as  well  as 
those  who  prescribe  the  opposite  order,  can  refer  to 
him.  Augustine  strengthened  Biblicism  and  at  the 
same  time  also  the  position  of  those  ecclesiastics  who 
with  Tertullian  refuted  the  Biblicists.  (2)  The  dis- 
crepancy between  the  principle  of  Scripture  and  the 
principle  of  salvation.  Augustine  taught,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  only  the  substance  (i.e.  salvation)  is 
of  importance  in  the  Scriptures;  yes,  he  advanced 
as  far  sometimes  as  that  spiritualism  which  skips 
over  the  Scriptures ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  could  not 
rid  himself  of  the  thought  that  every  word  of  the 
Scriptures  is  absolute  revelation.  (3)  The  discrep- 
ancy between  his  conceptions  of  the  essence  of  relig- 
ion ;  on  the  one  hand,  it  is  faith,  love,  hope ;  yet,  on 
the  other,  knowledge  and  super-terrestrial,  immortal 


344        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

life;  it  should  aim  to  secure  blessedness  through 
grace,  and  again  through  the  amor  intellectualis. 
Faith  as  conceived  by  Paul  and  a  non-cosmic  mys- 
ticism contend  for  the  primacy.  (4)  The  discrep- 
ancy between  the  doctrine  of  predestined  grace  and 
a  doctrine  of  grace  that  is  essentially  an  ecclesias- 
tical and  sacramental  doctrine.  (5)  Discrepancies 
within  the  principal  lines  of  thought.  Thus  in  the 
doctrine  of  grace  the  thought  of  the  gratia  per 
{propter)  Christum  not  infrequently  conflicts  with 
the  conception  of  a  grace  flowing  independently  from 
Christ  out  of  the  original  being  of  God  as  the  sum- 
mum  bonum  and  summum  esse.  Thus,  in  his 
ecclesiastical  doctrine,  the  hierarchical-sacramental 
basal  element  is  not  reconciled  with  a  liberal,  uni- 
versal view,  such  as  originated  with  the  apologists. 
Pnarfan!  One  can  distinguish  three  planes  in  the  theology 

logic,  and    of  Augustine :    The  predestinarian,  the  soteriologic, 

Ecclesias- 

tico-sacra-  and  the  plane  of  the  authority  and  of  the  sacraments 

mental     -  r  J 

Elements.  Q£  ^e  Church ;  but  one  would  not  do  him  justice, 
if  one  should  describe  these  elevations  separately,  for 
in  his  summary  of  the  whole  they  are  united.  Just 
because  his  rich  spirit  embraced  all  these  discrepan- 
cies and  characteristically  represented  them  as  ex- 
periences, has  he  become  the  father  of  the  Church 
of  the  Occident.  He  is  the  father  of  the  Roman 
-  Church  and  of  the  Reformation,  of  Biblicists  and  of 
mystics;  yes,  even  the  Renaissance  and  modern 
empirical  philosophy  (psychology)  are  indebted  to 
him.     New  dogmas,  in  the  strict  sense,  he  did  not 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      345 

introduce.  It  was  left  to  a  very  much  later  period 
to  formulate  strictly  definite  dogmas  out  of  the  trans- 
formation wrought  by  him  in  the  old  dogmatic 
material,  i.e.  the  condemnation  of  Pelagianism  and 
the  new  doctrine  of  the  sacraments. 


1.  Augustiners  Doctrine    of  the  First  and  Last 

Things. 

Siebeck,  in  d.  Ztschr.  f.  Phil.  u.  phil.  Kritik,  1888,  S.  161 
ff.  Gangauf,  Metaphys.  Psychol,  cl.  h.  Aug.,  1852.  Storz, 
Die  Phil.  d.  h.  Aug.,  1882.  Scipio,  DesAurel.  Aug.  Metaph., 
1886.  Kahl,  Primat  d.  Willens  b.  Aug.,  1886.  Kühner,  A.'s 
Anschauung  v.  d.  Erlös,  bedeutung  Christi,  1890. 


The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom :    Augustine 

0  °  "Alter  Ar- 

With  the  life  of  prayer  Augustine  united  an  inward  lstoteles"- 
contemplation  which  led  him,  the  pupil  of  the  Neo- 
Platonists  and  of  Paul,  to  a  new  psychology  and 
theology.  He  became  the  "  alter  Aristoteles "  in 
making  the  inner  life  the  starting-point  for  thoughts 
concerning  the  world.  He  first  absolutely  put  away 
the  näive-objective  frame  of  mind  and  with  it  the 
antique-classical,  at  the  same  time,  however,  the 
remnants  of  the  polytheistic  view  also.  He  was 
the  first  monotheistic  theologian  (in  tke  strict 
sense  of  the  word)  among  the  Church  fathers, 
since  he  lifted  the  Neo-Platonic  philosophy  above 
himself.  Not  unfamiliar  with  the  realm  of  knowl-  ^now  only 
edge  of  the  objective  world,  he  yet  wished  to  know  the  soul, 
but  two  things,  God  and  the  soul;  for  his  skepticism 
had  dissolved  the  world  of  external  phenomena,  but 


346        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

in  the  flight  of  these  phenomena  the  facts  of  the 
inner  life  had,  after  painful  struggles,  remained  to 
him  as  facts.  Even  if  there  exists  no  evil  and  no 
God,  there  still  exists  unquestionably  the  fear  of  evil. 
Out  of  this,  i.e.  through  psychological  analysis,  one 
can  find  the  soul  and  God  and  sketch  a  picture  of  the 
world.  Hence  the  skeptic  can  arrive  at  the  knowl- 
edge of  truth,  for  which  the  marrow  of  the  soul 
sighs. 

H^piness.  The  fundamental  form  of  the  life  of  the  soul  is  the 
desire  for  happiness  (cupido,  amor)  as  a  desire  for 
blessedness.  All  inclinations  are  only  developments 
of  this  fundamental  form  (as  receptivity  and  as 
activity)  and  they  are  valid  for  the  sphere  of  the 
spiritual  life  as  well  as  for  that  of  the  sensuous. 
The  will  is  connected  with  these  inclinations,  never- 
theless it  is  a  power  rising  above  sensuous  nature 
(Augustine  is  an  indeterminist).  In  concreto  it  is 
indeed  bound  to  the  sensuous  instincts,  i.e.  not  free. 
Theoretical  freedom  of  election  becomes  real  freedom 
only  when  the  cupiditas  {amor)  boni  has  become  the 

only  the     ruling  motive  for  the  will,  i.e.  only  the  qood  will  is 

Good  Will  °  •>  v  v 

free.  Moral  goodness  and  freedom  of  will  coincide. 
The  truly  free  will  has  its  freedom  in  the  impulse  of 
the  good  (beata  necessitas  boni) .  This  bondage  is 
freedom,  because  it  withdraws  the  will  from  the  do- 
minion of  the  lower  instincts  and  realizes  the  destiny 
and  disposition  of  man  to  be  filled  with  true  exist- 
ence and  life.  In  attachment  to  the  good,  therefore, 
is  realized  the  higher  appetitus,  the  true  instinct  of 


is  Free. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF    SIN,  ETC.       347 

self-preservation  in  man ;  while  he  gradually  brings 
about  his  own  destruction,  if  he  follows  his  lower  in- 
stincts .  For  these  1  ines  of  thought  Augustine  claimed 
strict  validity,  for  he  knew  that  every  man,  meditat- 
ing about  himself,  must  affirm  them.  With  them 
Augustine  united  the  results  of  the  Neo-Platonic  cos-    Neo-pia- 

tonie  Cbs- 

mological  speculation;  but  the  simple  greatness  of    gSjjSj? 
his  living  conception  of  God  worked  powerfully  upon    Adopted, 
them  and  coerced  the  artificial!}^  gained  elements  of 
the  doctrine  of  God  again  and  again  into  the  sim- 
plest confession :  "  The  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  is 
love ;  he  is  the  salvation  of  the  soul ;  whom  should  ye 
fear"? 
,        Through  the   Neo-Platonic   speculation    (through    TiieSum- 

V/  °  jt  \  o         mum  Esse. 

proof  of  the  nothingness  of  phenomena  and  through  6niytTrue 
progressive  elimination  of  the  lower  spheres  of  the 
sensuous  and  conceivable)  Augustine  arrived  at  the 
conception  of  the  one,  unchangeable,  eternal  Being 
(incorporea  Veritas,  spiritalis  substantia,  lux  in- 
commutahilis) .  At  the  same  time  this  summum 
esse  alone  corresponds  to  the  simplicity  of  the  high- 
est object  of  the  soul's  desire.  This  summum  esse 
alone  is  in  reality  the  Being,  since  every  other  being 
has  the  quality  of  non-being,  and  can  indeed  not  ex- 
ist but  really  perishes.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  can 
also  be  conceived  as  the  development  of  the  sole  Sub- 
stance, as  the  radiant  artistic  expression  of  the  latter, 
and  in  this  conception  the  metaphysically  dissolved 
phenomena  and  the  interest  therein  recur  in  an  aes- 
thetic form.     Yet  this  natural  feeling  is  still  only 


Being. 


548       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


the  establishing  of  the  Augustinian  conception.  He 
does  not  surrender  himself  to  it,  but  rather  passes 
over  at  once  to  the  observation,  that  the  soul  strives 
for  this  highest  Being  and  seeks  it  in  all  lower  good 
with  indestructible,  noble  concupiscence;  yet  after 
all  it  hesitates  to  seize  the  same.  Here  a  dreadful 
Monstrous  paradox  presented  itself  to  him,  which  he  designates 
as  "monstrum",  viz.,  that  the  will  does  not  actu- 
ally want,  what  it  wants,  or  rather  what  it  seems  to 
ivant.  Together  with  the  whole  weight  of  man's  in- 
dividual responsibility  Augustine  conceived  this  state 
of  the  case,  which  was  ameliorated  by  no  aesthetic 
consideration,  yet  at  times  was  so  smooth  to  him 
(the  cosmos  with  light  and  shadow  as  the  "  pul- 
chrum  ",  as  the  simile  of  the  fulness  of  life  of  the 
universal  One).  Hence  metaphysics  was  trans- 
formed for  him  into  ethics.  Through  the  feeling 
of  responsibility,  God  (the  summum  esse)  appeared 
to  him  as  the  summum  bonum;  and  the  selfish,  in- 
dividual life,  which  determines  the  will,  as  the  evil. 
This  summum  bonum  is  not  only  the  constant  rest- 
ing-place for  the  restless  thinker,  and  the  intoxicat- 
ing joy  of  life  for  the  life-loving  mortal,  but  it  is  also 
an  expression  for  the  shall-be,  for  that  which  shall 
become  the  ruling  fundamental  motive  of  the  will, 
for  that  which  shall  give  to  the  will  its  freedom  and 
therewith  for  the  first  time  its  power  over  the  sphere 
of  the  natural,  for  that  which  shall  free  the  inde- 
structible inclination  of  man  toward  the  good  from 
the  misera  necessitas  peccandi — expression  of  the 


Metaphys- 
ics Trans- 
formed 
into 

Ethics. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      349 

good.  Thus  for  him  all  inferences  of  the  intellect 
and  ail  eudemonistic  wrappings  dropped  from  the 
conception  of  the  good  to  the  ground.  For  this 
line  of  thought  also  he  claimed  general  validity. 

But  still  another  experience  now  followed  and  it  Metaphys- 

r  ics  and 

scorned  all  analysis.     Yonder  good  not  only  con-      Trans- 
fronted  him  as  the  "  shall  be",  but  he  felt  himself        into 

Religion. 

seized  by  it  as  love  and  lifted  out  of  the  misery  of 
the  monstrous  contradiction  of  existence.  Accord- 
ingly the  conception  of  God  received  an  entirely  new 
meaning :  The  good  which  is  able  to  do  this,  the  Al- 
mighty, is  Person,  is  Love.  The  summum  esse  is  the 
holy  good  in  Person,  working  upon  the  will  as  al- 
mighty Love.  Metaphysics  and  ethics  are  trans- 
formed into  religion.  Evil  is  not  only  privatio 
substantiae  and  therefore  not  mere  privatio  .^oni, 
but  godlessness  (privatio  Dei) ;  the  ontological  defect 
in  the  creature  existence  and  the  moral  defect  in  the 
good  is  a  defect  in  the  attitude  of  love  toward  God ; 
but  to  possess  God  is  everything,  is  being,  good  being, 
free-will  and  peace.  Henceforth  a  stream  of  Divine 
thought  flowed  forth  freely  from  Augustine.  It  is 
just  as  inherently  natural  to  God  to  be  gratia,  im- 
parting himself  in  love,  as  to  be  causa  causatrix  non 
causata;  man  however  lives  by  the  grace  of  love.  baDuraceS 
That  he — embarrassed  by  a  monstrous  existence, 
which  points  back  to  a  serious  fall  into  sin — can  live 
only  bj^  grace,  may  still  be  explained ;  but  that  the 
grace  of  love  really  exists  is  a  transcendent  fact. 
Man   does  not  arrive  at  freedom  through  indepen- 


350        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

dence  as  regards  God,  but  through  dependence  upon 
-   him :  Only  that  love  which  has  been  bestowed  upon 
him  by  God  renders  man  blessed  and  good. 
oS  ^Res16       ^n  ^ne  detailed  deductions  of  Augustine  respecting 
God  and  the  soul  the  notes  of  metaphysics,  ethics 
and  of  the  deepest  Christian  experience  vibrate  with- 
in one  another.     God  is  the  only  "  res  ",  which  may 
be  enjoyed   (frui  =  alicui    rei    amove    inhaerere 
propter  se  ipsam),  other  things  may  only  be  used. 
This  sounds   Neo-Platonic,  but   it  is  resolved   in  a 
Christian  sense  into  the  thought :  fide,  spe  et  caritate 
He  is      colendum  deum.    God  is  Person,  whom  one  can  trust 

Person.  <^. — ■ — 

above  all  other  things  and  whom  one  should  love. 
The  fides  quae  per  dilectionem  operatur  becomes 
the  sovereign  expression  of  religion.  The  aesthetically 
grounded  optimism,  the  subtile  doctrine  of  emana- 
tion, the  idea  of  the  sole  agency  of  God  (doctrine  of 
predestination),  the  representation  of  evil  as  the 
"  non-existent "  which  limits  the  good,  do  not  indeed 
entirely  disappear,  but  they  are  joined  in  a  peculiar 
manner  with  the  representation  of  God  as  the  Crea- 
tor of  mankind  which  has  through  its  own  fault 
become  a  massa  perditionis,  and  of  God  as  the  Re- 
deemer and  ordinator  peccatorum.  The  striving 
also  after  absolute  knowledge  and  the  conception  of 
the  Christian  religion  in  accordance  with  the  scheme 
AAaoptsne  °^  ^ne  apologists  (rationalistic)  never  failed  in  Au- 
Apo?ogists.  gustine,  and  the  love  of  God  which  he  felt  was  secure 
to  him  only  under  the  authority  of  outward  revelation, 
to  which  he  obediently  submitted ;  but  in  his  relig- 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      351 

ious  thinking,  in  which  the  appreciation  of  the  im- 
portance of  history  was  indeed  not  so  well  developed 
as  the  capacity  for  psychological  observation,  the 
Christian  spirit  nevertheless  ruled. 

From  his  youth  up  Christ  was  the  silent  guiding    Christ  ins 

J  r  &  &       Guiding 

principle  of  his  soul.  And  the  apparently  purely  Principi«. 
philosophical  deductions  were  in  many  ways  influ- 
enced by  the  thought  of  him.  All  of  Augustine's 
attempts  to  break  through  the  iron  plan  of  the  im- 
mutability of  God,  and  to  discriminate  between  God, 
the  world  and  the  ego,  are  to  be  explained  by  the 
impression  of  history  upon  him,  i.e.  of  Christ.  Thus 
Christ  appeared  to  him,  the  religious  philosopher, 
more  and  more  plainly  as  the  way,  the  power  and 
the  authority.  How  often  did  he  speak  of  revela- 
tion in  general  and  mean  only  him !  How  often  did 
he  speak  of  Christ  where  his  predecessors  spoke  of 
revelation  in  general !  The  speculative  representa- 
tion of  the  idea  of  the  good  and  of  its  agency  as  love 
became  a  certainty  to  him  only  through  the  vision  of 
Christ  and  through  the  authoritative  proclamation 
of  the  Church  respecting  him.  The  vision  of  Christ  v^jjfs°f 
was  a  new  element,  which  he  first  (after  Paul  and  frtm^aui. 
Ignatius)  again  introduced.  Just  as  his  doctrine  of 
the  trinity  received  a  new  form  through  the  convic- 
tion, experienced  through  faith,  of  the  unity  of  God, 
although  he  adopted  the  old  formulas,  so  also  did  his 
Christology,  in  spite  of  all  adherence  to  tradition 
(rigid  combating  of  Apollinaris) ,  receive  a  new  con- 
tent through  the  preaching  of  Ambrose  and  his  own 


352       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Sublimity 
and  Hu- 
mility of 

Christ. 
Mediaeval 
Key-note. 


Jesus  Me- 
diator, 
Sacrifice, 
and  Priest. 


experience.  (1)  In  the  first  place  as  regards  Christ 
the  representation  of  his  sublimity  in  his  humility 
was  of  decisive  importance  to  him,  the  actual  veri- 
fying of  the  sentence,  omne  bonum  in  humilitate 
perflcitur  (the  incarnation  also  he  represented  from 
this  point  of  view) ;  in  this  he  began  to  strike  the 
mediaeval  key-notes  of  Christology,  (2)  He  laid  the 
whole  stress  upon  the  possibility  now  won,  that  man, 
lying  in  the  dust,  can  apprehend  God  since  he  has 
come  near  us  in  our  lowliness  (the  Greek  waits  for 
an  exaltation  to  be  able  to  grasp  God  in  Christ),  (3) 
He  construed  not  infrequently  the  personality  of 
Christ  also  from  the  human  soul  of  the  Redeemer 
and  he  saw  in  the  endowments  of  the  same  the  great 
example  of  the  gratia praeveniens,  which  made  the 
man  Jesus  what  he  became,  (4)  He  conceived  the  man 
Jesus  as  Mediator,  as  Sacrifice  and  Priest,  through 
whom  we  have  been  reconciled  to  the  Deity  and  re- 
deemed, whose  death,  as  the  Church  proclaims  it,  is 
the  surest  foundation  of  our  faith  in  redemption.  In 
all  these  respects  Augustine  introduced  new  ideas 
into  the  old  dogma,  joining  them  thereto  indeed  only 
insecurely  and  artificially.  A  new  Christological 
formula  he  did  not  create;  to  him  Christ  became  the 
rock  of  faith,  since  he  knew  that  the  influence  of 
this  Person  had  broken  his  pride  and  given  him 
strength  to  believe  in  the  love  of  God  and  to  let  him- 
self be  found  by  it.  The  living  Christ  is  the  truth, 
and  he  who  is  proclaimed  by  the  Church,  is  the  way 
and  the  authority. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      353 

The  soul  is  guided  by  the  quae  per  dilectionem  VitaBeata. 
operatur  unto  the  vita  beata.  This  is  the  blessed 
peace  in  the  vision  of  God.  Therefore  knowledge 
still  remains  the  aim  of  man.  It  is  not  the  will  that 
holds  the  primacy,  but  the  intellect.  Finally  Augus- 
tine retained  the  vulgar  Catholic  form  of  thought 
which  confines  man  in  the  hereafter  to  an  adoring 
knowledge;  in  this  life  asceticism  and  contemplation 
answers  to  it  (hence  Augustine's  defence  of  monas- 
ticism  as  against  Jovinian).  The  kingdom  of  God, 
so  far  as  it  is  earthly,  is  also  perishable.  The  soul 
must  be  freed  from  the  world  of  appearances,  of  sim- 
ilitudes and  compulsory  conduct.  Nevertheless  Au- 
gustine exerted  indirectly  a  powerful  influence  upon 
the  current  eschatological  ideas:  (1)  Virtue  is  not     nepend- 

0  v    '  "  ence  upon 

the  highest  good,  but  dependence  upon  God  (in  the       G 
representation   of   the  decisive  significance  of  the 
merita  this  point  of  view  was  indeed  abandoned), 
(2)  The  priestly  ascetic  life  should  be  a  spiritual    S5J55£1 
one;  the  magico-physical  elements  of   Greek  mys- 
ticism recede  entirely  (no  cultus  mysticism),  (3)  In    inteiiectu- 

alism  I>is- 

the  thought,  "mihi  adliaerere  deobonum  est",  in-     counted. 

tellectualism  was  broken  down ;  the  will  received  its 

due  position,  (4)  Love  remains  even  the  same  in  eter-       Love 

r  \  Abides. 

nity  as  that  which  we  possess  in  this  life ;  therefore 

this  world  and  the  other  are  still  closely  united,  (5)    IJJ°f1^ftu. 

If  love  remains  also  in  the  other  world,  then  intellec- 

tualism  reappears  in  a  modified  form,  (6)  Not  the    Ecciesias- 

earthly  life,   but  the  earthly  Church  has  a  higher 

meaning;  the  latter  is,  so  to  speak,  the  holy  above 
23 


354        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

all  that  is  most  holy,  and  it  is  a  duty  to  build  it  up ; 
not  a  religion  of  a  second  order  supersedes  the  relig- 
ion, but  ecclesiasticism,  the  service  of  the  Church  as 
a  moral  agency  for  reforming  society,  as  an  organism 
of  the  sacramental  powers  of  love,  of  the  good  and  of 
Fides,  the  right  in  which  Christ  works,  (7)  Higher  than 
tas.  all  monasticism  stand  fides,  spes  and  Caritas;  hence 
the  scheme  of  a  dreary  and  egotistical  contemplation 
is  broken.  To  be  sure,  Augustine  succeeded  in  unit- 
ing in  all  directions,  although  indeed  with  contradic- 
tions, the  new  lines  of  thought  with  the  old. 

2.  The  Donatist  Contest.  The  Work,  "  D&Mivi- 
tate  Dei."  TheJDoctrine  of  the  Church  and  of 
the  Means  of  Grace. 

Reuter,  a.  a.  O.  Reinkins,  Gesch.  phil.  d.  h.  Aug.,  1866. 
Ginzel,  L.  Aug.  v.  d.  Kirche  in  d.  Tub.  Theol.  Quartalschr. , 
1849.  Köstlin,  D.  Kathol.  Auffass.  v.  d.  K.  in  d.  deutschen 
Ztschr.  f.  christl.  Wissensch.,  1856,  Nr.  14.  Schmidt,  Aug. 's 
Lehre  v.  d.  K.  in  d.  Yahrbb.  f .  deutsche  Theol. ,  1861 .  Seeberg, 
Begriff  d.  christl.  K.  I.  Th.,  1885.  Ribbeck,  Donatus  u. 
Aug.,  1888. 

Augustine        Jn  the  contest  with  Manichseism   and   Donatism 

Adopts 

iSctriSeof  Augustine,  following  Optatus,  formulated  his  doc- 

the 

church,  trine  of  the  Church  upon  the  basis  of  Cyprian's  con- 
ception, excluding,  however,  the  Donatistic  elements 
of  C}^prian  and  moderating  the  hierarchical.  In 
describing  the  Church  as  authority,  as  an  indestruc- 
tible institution  of  salvation,  he  believed  that  he 
was  merely  describing  a  divinely  produced  verity ;  in 
representing  it  as  communio  sanctorum,  he  followed 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      355 

his  own  religious  experience.  In  the  former  he  op- 
posed the  critical  "  subjectivism  "  of  the  Manichseans 
and  the  puritanism  of  the  Donatists  who  desired  to 
make  the  truth  of  the  Church  dependent  upon  the 
purity  of  the  priests;  in  the  latter  he  used  his 
doctrine  of  salvation  in  defining  his  conception  of 
the  Church.  Complicated  views  were  the  conse- 
quence. Not  only  does  the  Church  appear,  now  as 
the  goal  of  religion,  now  as  the  way  to  the  goal,  but 
the  conception  itself  becomes  a  complexity  of  divers 
conceptions.  Finally  the  doctrine  of  predestination 
presented  itself  to  him  as  out-and-out  questionable. 

I.     1.  The  most   important    characteristic  of  the    unity  of 

1  Church. 

Church  is  its  unity  (in  faith,  hope  and  love,  on  the 
one  side,  in  Catholicity  on  the  other),  which  the  same 
Spirit  produces  that  holds  the  trinity  together ;  this  in 
the  midst  of  the  disruption  of  humanity  is  a  proof  of 
the  divineness  of  the  Church.  Since  unity  flows  • 
only  from  love,  the  Church  rests  upon  the  governing 
power  of  the  divine  spirit  of  Love;  community  of  faith  • 
alone  is  not  entirely  sufficient.  From  this  view  there 
follows:  Caritas  Christiana  nisi' in  imitate eccles- 
iae  non  potest  custodiri,  etsi  baptismum  et  fidem 
teneatis,  i.e.  unity  only  exists  where  love  is  and 
love  only  where  unity  is.  The  application  of  this 
phrase  with  its  consequences  declares :  Heretics  not 
only  do  not  belong  to  the  Church  (for  they  deny  the 
unity  of  the  faith) ,  but  schismatics  also  stand  out-  • 
side  of  it ;  for  their  very  separation  from  the  unity 
proves  that  they  are  wanting  in  love,   i.e.  in  the 


356        OUTLINES   OF    THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Therefore  only  the 
one  great  Church  is  the  Church,  and  outside  of  it 
there  can  indeed  exist  faith,  heroic  deeds,  even 
means  of  salvation,  but  no  salvation. 
Hchurch°f  2-  The  second  characteristic  of  the  Church  is  its 
holiness.  The  Church  is  holy  as  the  place  of  the 
activity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  as  the 
possessor  of  those  means  which  sanctify  the  indi- 
vidual. That  she  does  not  succeed  with  all,  cannot 
rob  her  of  her  holiness ;  even  a  numerical  superiority 
of  the  mali  et  hypocritae  does  not  endanger  this ; 
otherwise  one  unholy  member  would  already  ren- 
der her  right  questionable.  The  Church  exercises 
discipline  and  excommunication  not  so  much  to  pre- 
serve her  holiness  as  to  educate.  She  herself  is  al- 
ready secure  against  contamination  with  that  which 
is  unholy,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  she  never  sanc- 
tions it,  and  she  demonstrates  her  holiness,  since  in 
her  midst,  and  only  within  her,  real  saints  are  be- 
gotten, and  since  she  everywhere  elevates  and  sanc- 
tifies the  morals  of  men.  In  the  strict  sense  only 
the  boni  et  spirituales  belong  to  her,  but  in  a  wider 
sense  the  unholy  also,  in  so  far  as  they  are  still  able 
to  be  spiritualized  and  remain  under  the  influence  of 
the  sacraments  ("  vasa  in  contumeliam  in  domo 
dei  " ;  they  are  not  the  house  of  God,  but "  in  domo  "  ; 
they  are  not  "in  communione  sanctorum"  but 
"  sacrament  orum").  Thus  the  Church  is  a  " cor- 
pus permixtum",  and  even  heretics  and  schismatics 
ultimately  belong  to  her,  in  so  far  as  they  have  ap- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       357 

propriated  the  means  of  grace  and  remain  under  the 
discipline  of  the  Church.  But  the  holiness  of  the 
Church  includes  as  its  aim  the  pure  communio  sanc- 
torum (communio  fideli  urn),  and  all  religious  predi- 
cates of  the  Church  are  valid  for  this  communion. 

3.  The  third  characteristic  of  the  Church  is  its    Cl$£0ot~ 
Catholicity  (universality  as  regards  space).     This     church- 
furnishes  the  strongest  outward  proof  of  the  truth  of 

the  Church ;  for  it  is  a  fact  perceptible  to  the  senses 
and  at  the  same  time  a  miracle  with  which  the 
Donatists  have  nothing  comparable.  The  great 
church  at  Carthage  evidences  itself  as  the  true 
Church  by  its  union  with  Rome,  with  the  old  Orien- 
tal churches,  and  with  the  churches  of  the  whole 
world  (in  opposition  the  Donatists  rightly  said : 
"  Quantum  ad  totius  mundi  pertinet  partes,  modi- 
ca  pars  est  in  compensatione  totius  mundi,  in  qua 
fides  Christiana  no?ninatur"). 

4.  The  fourth  characteristic    is  its   apostolicity,  -  ApostoUc- 
which  manifests  itself,  (1)  in  the  possession  of  the     church- 
apostolical  writings  and  doctrines,  (2)  in  the  ability  of 

the  Church  to  trace  back  its  existence  as  far  as  the 
apostolical  churches  by  the  line  of  episcopal  succes- 
sion (this  point  Cyprian  emphasized  more  strongly). 
Among  these  churches  the  Roman  is  the  most  im- 
portant on  account  of  its  first  bishop,  Peter.  He  is 
the  representative  of  the  apostles,  of  the  Church,  of 
weak  Christians  and  of  the  ecclesiastical  function  of 
the  bishops.  The  old  theory  that  it  is  necessary  to 
be  in  union  with  the  sedes  apostolica  and  cathedra 


358       OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 


Infallibil- 
ity of 
Church. 


Church  is 

Kingdom 

of  God  on 

Earth. 


Petri,  Augustine  retained ;  but  as  regards  the  infal- 
libility of  the  Roman  see,  he  expressed  himself  just 
as  undecidedly  and  contradictorily  as  in  regard  to 
the  councils  and  the  episcopate  (naturally  to  him  a 
council  stood  higher  than  the  Roman  bishop) . 

5.  The  infallibility  of  the  Church  Augustine  con- 
sidered as  firmly  established ;  but  he  was  able  to  re- 
produce the  arguments  for  it  only  as  relatively  sound 
and  sufficient.  In  like  manner  he  was  convinced  of 
the  indispensableness  of  the  Church;  but  he  pro- 
pounded ideas  (regarding  the  doctrine  of  predestin- 
ation and  the  immutability  of  the  eternal  working 
of  God) ,  which  annulled  the  same. 

6.  The  Church  is  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth. 
As  a  rule  Augustine,  indeed,  in  making  use  of  this 
conception  had  no  reference  to  the  Church,  but  to  the 
entire  result  of  the  work  of  God  in  the  world,  in  con- 
trast with  the  work  of  the  devil.  But  whenever  he 
identifies  Church  and  kingdom  of  God,  he  means 
by  the  former  the  communio  fidelium  (corpus 
verum).  But  since  there  is  only  one  Church,  he 
could  not  but  consider,  in  a  given  case,  the  corpus 
permixtum  also  as  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  since 
with  the  abolition  of  all  apocalyptic  representations 
he  saw  the  millennium  now  already  realized  in  the 
Church,  in  contrast  with  the  perishing  evil  state  of 
the  world,  he  was  driven  almost  involuntarily  to  the 
consequence  that  the  visible  Church  with  its  ruling 
priests  and  its  regulations  is  the  kingdom  of  God 
{de  civitate  dei,  XX.  9-13).     Thus  the  idea  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       359 

kingdom  of  God  passes  with  him  through  all  stages,  X^ewedy 
from  a  historico-theological  conception,  which  is 
neutral  as  regards  the  idea  of  the  Church  (the  king- 
dom of  God  is  in  heaven  and  has  been  organizing  it- 
self since  Abel  upon  the  earth  for  heaven) ,  to  the 
Church  of  the  priests,  but  it  has  its  centre  in  the  ec- 
clesia  as  a  heavenly  "  communio  sanctorum  in  ter- 
ris  peregrinans" .  Parallel  with  this  conception 
goes  that  other  of  the  societas  of  the  godless  and  re- 
probates (including  the  demons),  which  finally  passes 
over  into  the  idea  of  the  earthly  kingdom  (the  state) 
as  the  magnum  latrocinium.  In  opposition  to  this 
communion  originating  in  sin  and  condemned  to  eter- 
nal strife,  stands  in  general  the  state  of  God  as  the 
only  rightful  union  of  men.  But  the  latter  points  of 
this  form  of  statement  which  ends  in  a  real  theocracy 
of  the  Church  and  in  a  condemnation  of  the  state,  Au- 
gustine neither  elaborated  nor  especially  emphasized. 
He  had  in  mind  almost  throughout  spiritual  powers 
and  spiritual  strife ;  the  popes  of  the  Middle  Ages 
first  drew  the  theocratic  consequences.  He  also  gave  ^fnated 
to  his  view  respecting  the  state  the  turn,  that,  since  i 
the  pax  terrena  is  a  good  (even  if  a  particular  one), 
a  community  (the  state)  which  protects  it  is  also 
good.  But  since  the  pax  terrena  can  be  brought 
about  only  by  justice,  and  inasmuch  as  the  latter  is 
undoubtedly  in  possession  of  the  Church  alone  (be- 
cause as  resting  upon  the  Caritas  it  originates  with 
God) ,  the  state  can  obtain  a  relative  right  only  by 
submission  to  the  state  of  God.     It  is  clear  that  this 


360       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

view  also,  by  which  the  earthly  state  receives  a  cer- 
tain independence  (because  it  has  an  especial  mis- 
sion), can  be  easily  introduced  into  the  theocratic 
scheme.  Augustine  himself  drew  only  a  few  con- 
sequences, yet  he  drew  these :  That  the  state  must 
serve  the  Church  by  means  of  compulsory  measures 
against  idolatry,  heretics  and  schismatics,  and  that 
the  Church  must  in  general  exercise  an  influence 
upon  the  state's  right  of  punishment, 
word  and        n.     i.  The  Donatist  contest  also  necessitated  a 

Sacrament. 

closer  consideration  of  the  sacraments  (vid.  Optatus). 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  the  greatest  advance  that 
Augustine  recognized  the  word  as  a  means  of  grace. 
The  formula,  "  ivord  and  sacrament",  originated 
with  him,  yes,  he  esteemed  the  "  ivord "  so  highly 
that  he  even  called  the  sacrament  "  verbum  visi- 
bile ",  and  with  the  sentence :  "  crede  et  mandu- 
casti  "  he  opposed  all  working  through  mysteries  and 
gave  to  the  conception  "  sacrament "  so  wide  a  range 
that  every  sensible  sign  with  which  a  redemptive 
word  is  joined  may  be  so  named  ("  accedit  verbum 
ad  elementum  et  fit  sacramentum  ") .  An  especial 
doctrine  of  the  sacraments  is  not  to  be  drawn  there- 
from ;  Augustine  indeed  not  seldom  goes  so  far  in 
spiritualization,  that  the  sensible  sign  and  the  aud- 
ible word  need  only  to  be  considered  as  signa  and 
imago  of  the  invisible  act  accompanying  them  (for- 
giveness of  sin,  spirit  of  love) . 
Baptism         2.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the   sacraments — Au- 

and  Lord's 

supper,     gustine  has  reference  as  a  rule  in  this  connection  only 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   STN,  ETC.      «361 

to  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper — are  after  all  some- 
thing higher.  They  are  signs,  instituted  by  God, 
of  a  higher  object,  with  which,  by  virtue  of  the  con- 
stituted order  of  creation,  they  stand  in  a  certain  re- 
lationship, and  through  them  grace  is  really  imparted 
to  him  who  makes  use  of  them  (assurance  of  the 
miser  icordia  Christi  in  the  sacrament,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  actus  medicinalis) .  This  communica- 
tion is  dependent  upon  the  administration  (objectiv- 
ity of  the  sacraments),  but  it  is  redemptive  only 
where  the  spirit  of  love  (the  true  Church)  exists. 
Thereby  arose  the  double  contradiction,  that  the  sac- 
raments are  effective  everywhere  and  yet  only  in  the 
Church,  are  independent  of  men  and  yet  bound  up 
with  the  Church  in  their  redemptiveness.  Augustine 
resolved  this  contradiction  by  discriminating  between 
the  character  which  the  sacraments  impart  (stamp- 
ing it,  as  it  were)  and  the  real  communication  of 
grace.  The  sacraments  "  sancta  per  se  ipsa  "  can 
be  purloined  from  the  Church  and  yet  retain  their 
efficacy,  but  only  within  the  Church  do  they  tend 
effectively  to  salvation  ("  non  considerandum,  quis 
det  sed  quid  det"  but  on  the  other  hand,  "habere" 
is  not  yet  "  utiliter  habere  ") . 

3.  Only  with  baptism  (character:  Inalienable  re-  Dogaerna-of 
lation  to  Christ   and   his   Church)    and   ordination  m^tionedn 
(character:    Inalienable    preparation    to   offer    sac- 
rifice and  to  administer  the  sacraments),  however, 
could  this  view  be  harmonized,  not  indeed  with  the 
Lord's  Supper;  for  in  this  the  res  sacramenti  is  the 


362       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

invisible  incorporation  into  the  body  of  Christ  (con- 
cerning the  elements  Augustine  taught  symbolically), 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  sacrificium  caritatis; 
therefore  the  Catholic  Church  was  ever  allied 
with  the  Lord's  Supper  (sacramentum  unitatis) 
and  there  could  exist  no  "  character",  which  was  in- 
dependent of  this  Church.  Augustine  glided  over 
this  difficulty.  His  general  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments was  obtained  from  baptism,  and  he  discrim- 
inated therein  thus  artificially,  in  order  that  he 
might,  (1)  place  the  Donatists  in  the  wrong,  (2) 
maintain  the  characteristic  of  the  sanctity  of  the 
Church,  (3)  give  to  faith  a  firm  support,  upon  which 
it  could  rely — independent  of  men.  Afterward  the 
discrimination  was  made  the  most  of,  especially  in 
the  hierarchical  sense.  But  Augustine's  emphasis 
upon  the  "  word  "  and  his  spiritualism  have  given 
simultaneously  offence  in  another  direction  (to  Lu- 
ther and  to  the  Free- Reformers). 


idea  of  the       Augustine's  ideas  in  regard  to  the  Church  are  full 

Church  a  °  ° 

p°ictu?ed  of  contradictions.  The  true  Church  should  also  be 
visible,  and  yet  to  the  visible  Church  belongs  also 
evil  men  and  hypocrites,  nay  even  heretics.  The  ex- 
terna societas  sacrament  or  um,  which  is  communio 
fidelium  et  sanctorum  and  finally  also  the  nume- 
rus praedestinatorum  are  one  and  the  same  Church ! 
The  "  in  ecclesia  esse  "  has  in  truth  a  triple  sense. 
"  In  ecclesia"  are  only  the  praedestinati,  including 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       363 

those  still  unconverted ;  "  in  ecclesia "  are  the  be- 
lievers, including  those  who  will  relapse ;  "  in  eccle- 
sia "  are  all  those  who  have  part  in  the  sacraments ! 
The  Church  is  properly  in  heaven  and  yet  visible  as 
civitas  upon  earth !  It  is  from  the  beginning  and 
yet  first  instituted  by  Christ!  It  is  founded  upon 
predestination,  no  upon  faith,  love,  hope,  no  upon 
the  sacraments !  But  while  taking  account  of  these 
divers  important  points  which  are  contradictory  if 
there  is  to  be  only  one  Church,  one  must  not  forget 
that  Augustine  lived  as  an  humble  Christian  with 
the  thought  that  the  Church  is  the  communio  fide- 
Mum  et  sanctorum,  that  faith,  hope  and  love  are  its 
foundation,  and  that  it  "  in  terris  stat  per  remissio- 
nem  peccatorum  in  caritate."  The  predestinarian 
idea  of  the  Church  (in  reality  the  dissolution  of  the 
Church)  belongs  to  the  theologian  and  the  theoso- 
phist,  the  empirical  idea  to  the  Catholic  polemic.  It 
is  not  to  be  overlooked  also,  that  Augustine  first 
rescued  the  sacraments  from  the  magical  aspect 
under  which  they  were  to  counterbalance  a  moralistic 
mode  of  thinking,  and  coordinated  and  subordinated 
them  to  faith.  He  first  rendered  the  doctrine  of  the 
sacraments  reformable. 

3.  The  Pelagian  Contest.     Doctrine  of  Grace  and 

of  Sin. 

Reuter,  a.  a.  O.  Jacobi,  Lehre  d.  Pelagius,  1842.  Wörter, 
Der  Pelagianismus,  1866.  Klasen,  Die  innere  Entw.  d. 
Pelagianismus,  1882.     Wiggers.    Augustinismus    and    Pela- 


364       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

gianismus,  2  Bdd. ,  1831  f.  Dieckhoff,  A.  's  Lehre  v.  d. 
Gnade  (Meckl.  Theol.  Ztschr. ,  I. ,  1860) .  Luthardt,  L.  v.  f r. 
Willen.  1863. 

Doctrine  of       Augustine  had  not  formulated  his  doctrine  regard - 

Sin  and  °  ö 

Grace.  jng  grace  anc|  sjn  when  he  permitted  himself  to  be 
baptized  into  the  Catholic  Church  (see  his  anti- 
Manichaean  writings),  however  he  had  done  so  be- 
fore he  entered  into  the  Pelagian  contest.  Pelagius 
also  did  not  formulate  his  doctrine  first  during  the 
contest,  but  he  held  it  when  he  took  offence  at 
the  Augustinian  expression,  "da  quod  jubes  et 
jabe  quod  vis".  The  two  great  modes  of  thought 
— whether  grace  is  to  be  reduced  to  nature  or  whether 
it  sets  nature  free — rose  in  arms  against  each  other. 
The  Occident,  prepared  through  Ambrose,  accepted 
Augustinianism  with  incredible  alacrity.  Augus- 
tine, the  religious  man  and  the  virtuoso,  encountered 
in  Pelagius  an  earnest  ascetic  monk,  in  Caelestius  a 
eunuch,  in  Julian  a  gay  man  of  the  world  who  was 
also  a  resolute,  determined  rationalist  and  an  inexor- 
able dialectician. 
ismlafsiaRa-  Pelagianism  is  Christian  rationalism,  consistently 
^onasti-10  developed  under  the  influence  of  Hellenic  monas- 
Redemp-  ticism ;  it  is  stoic  and  Aristotelian  popularized  Occi- 
dental philosophy,  which  made  the  attempt  to  subor- 
dinate to  itself  the  traditional  doctrine  of  redemption. 
The  influence  of  the  Antiochian  theology  ca'n  be 
shown.  The  sources  are  the  writings  and  letters  of 
Cselestius,  Pelagius  and  Julian  (mostly  in  Augustine 
and  Jerome),  the  works  of  Augustine,  Jerome,  Oro- 


tion. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       365 

sius,  Marius  Mercator,  the  papal  letters  and  synodal 
decrees.  Pelagius  himself  was  more  cautious,  less 
aggressive  and  less  truthful  than  Cselestius  and 
Julian.  The  latter  first  completed  the  doctrine 
(without  him,  Augustine  says,  " Pelagiani  dogma- 
tis  machina  sine  architecto  necessario  remansis- 
set").     Formally  Augustinianism  and  Pelagianism    Elements 

'  J  °  °  Common  to 

are  herein  related  and  opposed  to  the  previous  mode  of  jamfm  and 
thought,  (1)  Each  is  founded  upon  the  desire  to  unify  eifmian 
the  religious,  ethical  knowledge,  (2)  Each  expelled 
from  tradition  the  dramatico-eschatological  element, 
(3)  Each  was  not  culto-mystically  interested,  but  kept 
the  problem  within  the  sphere  of  the  spirit,  and  (4) 
Neither  puts  the  highest  emphasis  upon  traditional 
proof  (Augustine  often  confesses  that  the  proof  is 
difficult  to  deduce  from  the  extant  writings  of  the 
fathers) .  Pelagius  was  anxious  to  show  that  in  the 
whole  controversy  it  was  not  a  question  of  dogma, 
but  a  practical  question ;  Augustine  carried  on  the 
contest  with  the  conviction  that  the  essence  and 
power  of  the  Christian  religion  must  stand  or  fall 
with  his  doctrine  of  grace ;  Cselestius  was  especially 
interested  in  overthrowing  the  doctrine  of  hereditary 
sin ;  Julian  was  consciously  defending  the  cause  of 
reason  and  freedom  against  a  "  stupid  and  impious 
dogma"  through  which  the  Church  was  being 
plunged  into  barbarism  and  the  educated  minority 
given  over  to  the  masses  who  do  not  understand 
Aristotle. 

I.  Pelagius  appeared  in  Rome  and  proclaimed  to  PeRome. m 


366       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

the  common  Christians  monasticism  and  the  ability 
of  every  man  to  rise  in  his  own  strength  unto  virtue, 
avoided  theological  polemics  but  contended  against 
the  quietism  of  the  Augustinian  confessions.  His 
ca?iestius    Roman  friend  Cselestius  seconded  him.     Both  went 

Seconds 

Teaching,  to  North  Africa,  from  which  Pelagius  however  soon 
departed.  Cselestius  applied  at  Carthage  for  a  pres- 
byter's office.  But  he  was  complained  of  (412  or  411) 
by  the  Milanese  deacon,  Paulinus,  at  a  synod  at 
Carthage,  because  he  considered  mortality  as  some- 
thing natural  (to  Adam  and  to  all  men) ,  denied  the 
universal  consequences  of  Adam's  sin,  taught  the 
perfect  innocence  of  the  new-born  babe,  esteemed  the 
benefit  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  as  not  necessarily 
attributable  to  all,  misunderstood  the  difference  be- 
tween law  and  gospel,  spoke  of  sinless  men  before 
the  appearance  of  Christ  and  thought  in  general 
superficially  of  sinlessness  and  the  fulfilment  of  the 
commandments  of  Christ,  if  only  one  has  good  in- 
tentions. In  spite  of  his  assertion  that  he  acknowl- 
edged the  baptism  of  children  (but  not  unto  the  for- 
giveness of  sin)  and  was  therefore  orthodox,  he  was 

csBiestius    excommunicated.     He  went  to  Ephesus  and  Constan- 

Excom- 

miuiicated.  tinople.  Pelagius  was  in  Palestine  and  sought  to 
maintain  peace  with  Augustine  and  Jerome.  His 
keen  friend  with  his  polemic  against  the  tradux pec- 
cati  and  the  baptism  of  infants  in  remissionem  pec- 
catorum  was  uncongenial  to  him ;  more  valuable  were 
his  more  recent  friends  in  the  Orient,  especially  John 
of  Jerusalem.     He  and  others  pronounced  him  in- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      367 


Zosimus. 


nocent  (at  the  synods  at  Jerusalem  and  Diospolis  5JW3 
415),  while  the  Augustinian  disciples,  Orosius  and  atsySodof 
Jerome,  accused  him  of  misunderstanding  the  Divine  *  415. 
grace.  But  only  with  a  mental  reservation  did  Pela- 
gius  give  up  the  incriminating  tenets  of  Cselestius, 
which  accordingly  remained  condemned  in  the  Orient 
also.  In  his  literary  labors  he  became  simply  more 
cautious,  but  did  not  give  in.  The  North  African 
churches  (synods  of  Carthage  and  Mileve,  416)  as 
well  as  Augustine  applied  to  Innocent  I.  in  Rome  for  innocent  1. 
the  condemnation  of  the  two  heretics.  The  pope, 
glad  to  have  been  approached  by  North  Africa,  com- 
plied (417),  yet  kept  a  pathway  of  retreat  open  for 
himself.  Although  Zosimus,  his  successor,  induced 
through  a  cunning  confession  of  faith  by  Pelagius 
and  won  over  by  Caalestius  who  now  also  grew  more 
cautious,  reinstated  them  and  at  first  remained  deaf 
to  the  representations  of  the  North  Africans ;  yet  a 
general  synod  at  Carthage  (418)  and  an  imperial 
edict,  which  expelled  both  heretics  with  their  fol- 
lowers from  Rome,  made  an  impression  also  upon  the 
pope,  who  in  an  epistula  tractoria  assented  to  the 
condemnation  and  required  the  Occidental  bishops 
to  sign  the  same  (418).  Still  this  imputation  strength- 
ened the  opposition  party.  Eighteen  bishops  de- 
clined. Their  leader  was  Julian  of  Eklanum.  This 
juvenis  confidentissimus  now  took  up  his  sharp 
pen.  He  wrote  daring  letters  to  Zosimus  and  Ruf  us 
of  Thessalonica,  which  Augustine  answered  (420). 
Therewith  began  a  ten  years'  literary  feud  between 


Julian  of 
Eklanum. 


368       OUTLINES   OF    THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

the  two  (fragments  of  the  Julian  writings  in  Aug. 
de  nuptiis  et  concupisc,  libri  sex  c.  Jul.  and  opus 
imperf.  c.  Jul.).  During  the  same  Augustine  was 
often  driven  into  a  close  corner  by  Julian ;  but  the 
feud  took  place  post  festum:  Augustine  was  already 
victor ;  Julian  wrote  like  one  who  has  nothing  more 
to  lose.  He  evolved  therefore  his  naturalism  and 
moralism  out  of  his  royal  reason  with  great  license, 
casting  aside  all  monkery,  yet  without  any  compre- 
hension of  the  needs  and  right  of  religion.  He  was 
finally  forced  to  flee  with  his  companions  into  the 
Orient  and  he  there  found  protection  with  Theodore 
Peconans  °^  Mopsuestia.  The  Ephesian  council,  i.e.  Cyril, 
council  of  did  the  Roman  bishop  the  favor  of  condemning  the 
43i.  '  Pelagians  (431).  In  the  Orient  men  had  no  compre- 
hension of  the  contest ;  indeed  at  the  bottom  they  were 
inclined  toward  Pelagianism  as  regards  the  freedom 
of  the  will ;  but  in  the  Occident  also  men  were  agreed 
only  on  the  points,  that  every  baptism  is  in  remis- 
sionem  peccatorum,  that  there  exists  since  the  fall 
of  Adam  a  tradux  peccata  which  delivers  the  chil- 
dren of  Adam  over  to  death  and  condemnation,  and 
that  the  grace  of  God  as  a  power  for  good  is  neces- 
sary unto  the  salvation  of  every  man. 
DoSfines  *  ^-  Pelagius  cared  nothing  for  new  dogmas  and  a 
system;  Julian's  stoical  system  with  its  Aristotelian 
dialectics,  Christian  etiquette  and  tendency  toward 
naturalism  belongs  to  the  history  of  theology.  Yet 
it  is  important  to  note  the  principles  of  the  Pelagian 
doctrine ;  for  it  has  made  its  appearance  in  a  subtle 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      369 

form  again  and  again.  The  monastic  tendency  was 
not  an  essential  thing  with  Pelagius,  but  subordinate 
to  the  aim  of  the  spontaneous  development  of  good 
character,  and  to  the  ancient  idea  of  moderation. 
Just  on  that  account  one  may  class  Pelagius  and 
Julian  together.  Courageous  faith  in  man's  ability 
to  do  that  which  is  good,  and  the  want  of  clearness 
of  thought  on  religio-ethical  questions  unite  them. 

Because  there  is  righteousness,  there  is  a  God. 
God  is  the  kind  Creator  and  the  just  Leader.  Eveiy- 
thing  that  he  has  created  is  good,  therefore  also  the  v 
creature,  the  law  and  free-will.  If  nature  is  good,  it 
is  then  not  convertible ;  accordingly  there  can  exist 
no  peccata  naturalia,  only  peccata  per  accidens.  ^J^ff a 
Human  nature  can  be  modificated  only  incidentally. 
The  most  important  and  best  endowment  of  this 
nature  is  free-will  ("'  motus  animi  cogente  nullo") ; 
reason  is  comprised  within  the  latter.  Both  bring 
it  to  pass  that  man  does  not  live  under  the  condi- 
tio necessitatis  and  does  not  need  help.  It  is  the 
glorious  gratia  prima  of  God,  the  Creator,  that  we 
may  do  both  and  can  do  either.  The  possibilitas  v^^\ 
boni  comes  from  God,  the  voluntas  and   actio  is    voluntas" 

.  et  Act  im  is 

our  concern.  Evil  is  a  momentary,  false  selt-de-  Ours, 
termination  without  consequence  to  the  nature, 
originating  in  the  sensuous  faculties.  According  to 
Pelagius  these  are  bad  in  themselves,  but  can  be 
subdued;  according  to  Julian  the}*  are  not  bad  in 
themselves,  only  so  "  in  excess  u".  Were  it  other- 
wise, then  must  baptism  abolish  concupiscence;  and 
24 


370       OUTLINES    OF    THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

if  concupiscence  is  bad,  then  the  Creator  God  is  not 
good.  Man  is  able  to  resist  every  sin,  therefore  he 
f  must  do  so;  there  have  indeed  been  sinless  men. 
According  to  Pelagius  everybody  goes  to  hell  who 
acts  contrary  to  his  better  ability.  The  attempt  to 
adjust  these  teachings  to  the  Scriptures  and  ecclesi- 
astical tradition  was  fraught  with  difficulties.  It  was 
admitted  that  Adam,  endowed  with  freedom  of 
choice,  fell;  yet  natural  death,  since  it  is  natural, 
was  not  the  consequence  of  his  sin,  but  spiritual 
death.  Inasmuch  as  death  has  not  descended  from 
him,  much  less  has  not  sin;  for  the  acceptance  of  a 
tradux  peccati  (original  sin)  leads  to  the  absurd  as- 
sumption of  soul-generation  and  to  Manichaaism  (evil 
nature),  abolishes  the  Divine  justice,  causes  matri- 
mony to  appear  unholy,  therefore  unlawful,  and  de- 
stroys all  possibility  of  a  redemption  (for  how  can  a 
sin  is  an    redemptive  message  or  a  law  influence  nature?) .     Sin 

Affair  of 

the  will,  always  remains  an  affair  of  the  will  and  each  is 
punished  only  for  his  own  sin.  All  men  stand  in 
the  condition  of  Adam  before  his  fall  ("  liberum 
arbitrium  et  post  peccata  tarn  plenum  est  quam 
fuit  ante  peccata  ") ;  only  a  sinful  habit  keeps  them 
down,  the  power  of  which  is  certainly  to  be  acknowl- 
edged. On  that  account  grace  also  must  be  acknowl- 
edged as  adjutorium.  According  to  the  degree  of 
convenience,  the  Pelagians  declared  grace  as  simply 
necessary,  as  alleviating,  as  superfluous.  They  con- 
sidered it  in  truth  only  a  comfortable  crutch  for 
Christians;  for  the  sentence,  "homo  libero  arbitrio 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      371 

emancipatus  est  a  Deo  ",  excludes  grace  in  princi- 
ple. There  exists  also  in  truth  only  one  grace,  the  Gg£J is 
enlightening,  deterring,  reward-offering  law ;  but  one 
may  also  distinguish,  (1)  creational  grace  (endow- 
ment), (2)  the  law  (illuminatio  et  doctrina),  (3) 
gratia  per  Christum:  (a)  his  example,  (b)  the  fruit 
of  his  work  applied  by  baptism  to  our  benefit  as  for- 
giveness of  sin.  On  this  point  the  Pelagians  were 
not  permitted  to  waver;  but  they  disclaimed  the 
gratia  praeveniens,  did  not  see  in  the  baptism  of 
infants  a  baptism  in  remissionem  peccatorum  and 
did  not  acknowledge  the  absolute  necessity  of  for- 
giveness. Children  dying  unbaptized  are  also  saved, 
but  are  not  admitted  into  the  regnum  cae'lorum. 
The  thesis  of  the  Pelagians,  that  Christian  grace  is  G^cl(J°; 
conferred  only  secundum  merita,  abolishes  grace  c°Me?ft. tc 
just  as  much  as  the  other  thesis,  that  it  works  es- 
sentially in  the  same  manner  as  the  law.  While 
judging  August inianism,  now  as  an  innovation,  now 
as  ManichaBisin,  now  as  inward  contradiction,  they 
themselves  brought  forth  the  greatest  contradictions 
(dialectically  concealed),  and  were  innovators  in  so 
far  as  they  really  held  fast  to  the  old  ecclesiastical 
doctrine  of  freedom  but  not  to  the  opposite  pole,  the 
mystical  doctrine  of  redemption,  and  they  accord-  y 
ingly  sold  religion  to  an  irrational  rationality  and  to 
a  profoundly  immoral  theory  of  morality. 

III.    Augustine  did   not  start  from   the  liberum      \%g* 
arbitrium,  but  from  God  and  the  soul  which  feels 
its  guilt  in  his  presence  and  yet  has  experienced  his 


372       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

grace.  In  seeking  to  explain  therefrom  nature,  the 
history  of  the  world  and  the  history  of  the  individual, 
he  fell  into  many  contradictions  and  into  assumptions 
.too  easily  gainsaid.  But  there  are  theses  which  are, 
outwardly  considered,  entirely  untrue,  but,  inwardly 
considered,  true.  Thus  is  Augustine's  doctrine  of 
grace  and  sin  to  be  judged.  As  an  expression  of 
psychological  religious  experience  it  is  true;  but 
projected  into  history  it  is  false.  Besides  it  is  in 
itself  also  not  consistent ;  for  it  is  dominated  by  the 
thought  that  "  God  in  Christ  creates  faith  ",  as  well 
as  by  the  other  thought  that  "  God  is  the  only  Causal- 
ity ",  and  these  are  brought  only  seemingly  into  con- 
sonance by  the  definition  of  grace  as  gratis  data. 
Smentf11  Besides  Manichsean  elements  are  visible;  the  letter 
of  Scripture  (generally  misunderstood)  had  also  an 
obscuring  effect,  and  the  religious  view  is  accom- 
panied by  a  moralistic  (merita)  which  finally 
makes  the  decision. 

Humanity  is,  according  to   experience,    a   massa 
peccati,  i.e.  void  of  God;  but  the  God-man,  Christ, 
— he  alone — by  his  death  brought  the  power  to  re- 
plenish  empty   humanity   with   Divine    love:    that 
Gratia      is  the   gratia   gratis  data,  the  beginning,  middle 

Gratis 

Data.  and  end  of  our  salvation.  Its  aim  is  that  out  of  the 
massa  perditionis  there  shall  be  saved  a  certus  nu- 
merus electorum.  Such  will  be  saved  because  God 
has  predestined  (Augustine  is  an  inf ra-lapsarian) , 
elected,  called,  justified,  sanctified  and  preserved 
them  by  virtue  of  his  eternal  decree.     This  takes 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   SIN,  ETC.      37: 1 

place  in  the  Church  through  grace,  which,  (1)  is vrae-     (;,;" '  Is 

x  o     o  7   \   /      x*  Praeven 

veniens,  i.e.  withdraws  man  from  his  condition  of  sin  opSaS" 
and  creates  the  good  will  (  =  vocatio,  but  this  and  Pefis. 
all  further  acts  of  grace  take  place  in  those  also  who 
finally  are  not  saved,  because  they  are  not  elected), 
(2)  cöoper ans — this  is  developed  in  a  series  of  gra- 
dations as  far  as  the  entire  and  actual  regeneration  of 
man,  which  makes  it  possible  for  him,  when  filled 
with  love,  to  earn  merita.  Out  of  the  vocatio  fol- 
lows the  fides;  this  is  gradually  augmented,  since  it 
is  developed  upon  the  stages  of  belief,  obedience, 
fiducia  and  love.  Parallel  with  it  goes  the  actual 
(visible)  working  of  grace  in  the  Church,  which  be- 
gins with  the  remissio  peccatorum,  i.e.  with  bap- 
tism, which  removes  the  reatus  of  hereditary  sin  and 
blots  out  past  sins.  It  terminates  in  the  justification 
which  is  not  a  judgment  upon  the  sinner,  but  the 
completing  of  the  process  by  virtue  of  which  he  has 
actually  passed  from  an  impious  to  a  just  state. 
This  takes  place  through  the  infusion  of  the  spirit  of 
love  into  the  heart  of  the  believer  (and  through  the 
Lord's  Supper),  whereby,  admitted  into  the  unity  of 
the  communion  with  Christ  (Church),  he  receives 
as  sanctus  and  spiritalis  a  new  disposition  and 
desire  ("  mihi  adhaerere  deo  bonuin  est ")  and  now 
has  the  capacity  for  good  works  ("fides  impeirat, 
quod  lex  imperat").  Justification  depends  upon  Justifica- 
the  fides  and  is  sub  specie  aeternitatis  a  concluded  gg£j 
act;  empirically  considered,  it  is  a  process  never 
completed  in  this  world.     The  being  filled  with  faith, 


374       OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

hope,  and  love  is  evidenced  by  the  demonstration  of 
love  and  by  withdrawal  from  the  world  (asceticism). 
This  is  in  turn  evidenced  in  good  works,  which  now 
have  merit  before  God  (merit a),  although  they  are 
his  gifts  since  they  are  begotten  of  his  grace.  Not  to 
every  one  are  perfect  works  granted  (consilia  evan- 
gelica) ;  but  every  justified  person  has  works  of  faith, 
hope  and  love,  (3)  the  highest  and  best  gift  of  the 
gratia  is  the  perseverantia  which  is  irresistibilis  in 
the  elect.  The  vocati  (et  sanctificati  ?)  who  do  not 
have  this  will  be  lost.  Why  some  only  receive  it, 
since  it  is  not  bestowed  secundum  merita,  is  God's 
mystery.  But  certain  is  it — in  spite  of  predestina- 
tion and  sovereign  grace — that  at  the  final  judgment 
not  the  "  adhaerere  Dei  "  but  the  moral  habitus  will 
be  decisive.  He  only  who  can  show  merit  a  (but 
such  are  Dei  munera)  will  be  saved.  The  signifi- 
cance of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  of  faith  is  how- 
ever misconceived.  Augustine's  thesis  is:  "Where 
love  is,  there  also  is  bliss  corresponding  to  the  mea- 
sure of  love" . 
sin,  Fan        On  this  basis  Augustine  formed  his  doctrine  con- 

and  Origin- 
al state,     cerning  sin,  the  fall  and  the  original  state.     Sin  is 

PBiVniio  privatio  boni  (lack  of  being  and  of  true  being), 
turning  of  man  unto  himself  (pride)  and  concu- 
piscence (sensuality) :  l(misera  necessitas  non  posse 
non  peccandi",  although  formal  freedom  exists — 
dominion  of  the  devil  (therefore  redemption  from 
without  is  necessary).  Augustine  desires  to  retain 
the  "  amor  sui  "  as  the  principal  conception  of  sin, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      375 

but  in  reality  he  ranks  concupiscence  above  it.  The 
latter  manifests  itself  above  all  in  sexual  lust.  Since 
this  acts  spontaneously  (independent  of  the  will),  it 
proves,  that  the  nature  is  vitiated  (natura  vitiata).  Ä 
For  that  reason  it  propagates  sin :  The  act  of  genera- 
tion, consummated  with  lust,  is  a  testimony  that 
humanity  has  become  a  massa  peccati.  Since  Au- 
gustine hesitated  to  teach  traducianism  as  regards 
the  origin  of  the  soul,  the  body — contrary  to  the  orig- 
inal deposition — becomes  the  bearer  of  sin  which 
infects  the  soul.  The  tradux  peccati  runs  as  vitiam  ScStf ; 
originis  through  humanity.  This  hereditary  sin  is  originis. 
sin,  punishment  for  sin  and  guilt ;  it  destroys  the  true 
life  and  surrenders  man  to  the  non  posse  non  mori 
(unbaptized  children  also — however  "  mittissima 
poena"),  after  it  has  defiled  all  his  acts  ("  splendida 
vitia").  Thus  testify  Scripture,  the  practice  of  the 
Church  (infant  baptism)  and  the  conscience  of  the 
sinner.  Since  Adam  this  hereditary  sin  exists  as 
natura  vitiata.  His  fall  was  terrible,  a  complexity 
of  all  heinous  sins  (pride  and  concupiscence) ;  it  was 
the  more  terrible,  since  Adam  had  not  only  been 
created  good,  but  also  possessed  as  adjutorium  the 
Divine  grace  (for  without  this  there  exists  no  spon- 
taneous goodness) .  This  grace  he  forfeited,  and  so 
great  was  its  loss,  that  "  in  him  "  the  whole  human 
race  was  corrupted  (not  only  because  all  wer.e  that  s^|d 
Adam,  but  also  because  from  him  the  evil  contagion  in  Adam- 
spread) ,  and  even  baptism  is  not  able  to  eradicate  he- 
reditary sin  (human  lust) ,  but  can  only  remove  its 


376       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

reatus.  Augustine's  idea  of  the  original  state  ( posse 
nonpeccare  and  adjutorium)  stands  m  flagrant  con- 
tradiction with  his  doctrine  of  grace ;  for  gratia  as  ad- 
jutorium in  the  original  state  is  the  grace  of  redemp- 
tion, in  so  far  as,  totally  unlike,  it  leaves  the  will  free 
and  really  has  no  effect,  but  is  merely  a  condition  of 
the  free  decision  for  good,  therefore  not  irresistibilis. 
This  adjutorium  is  in  truth  conceived  in  a  Pelagian 
way  (his  doctrine  of  the  original  state  and  of  the  stand- 
ard of  the  final  judgment  is  not  compatible  with  his 
doctrine  of  grace)  and  the  natura  vitiat a  (when  taken 
as  human  lust)  gives  no  longer  a  place  for  holy  mat- 
rimony, and  is  therefore  Manichsean.  But  all  these 
grave  offences  cannot  dim  the  greatness  of  the  truth 
that  God  works  the  "willing  and  doing",  that  we 
possess  nothing  which  we  have  not  received,  and  that 
to  adhere  to  God  is  good  and  our  good. 

4.  Augustiners  Exposition  of  the  Symbol.     The 
Neiv  Doctrine  of  Religion. 

Augus-  in  order  to  understand  how  Augustine  transformed 

tine's  En-  ° 

chindion.  ^e  traditional  doctrine  of  religion  (the  dogma) ,  and 
to  know  which  of  his  thoughts  have  passed  into  ec- 
clesiastical possession,  it  is  necessary  to  study  his  ex- 
planations of  the  symbol,  especially  his  Enchiridion. 
In  the  first  place  the  common  Catholic  trend  of  his 
teaching  is  here  revealed.  Conformably  with  the  old 
symbol,  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  and  of  the  double- 
nature  is  explained ;  the  importance  of  the  Catholic 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE    OP   SIN,  ETC.      377 

öhurchis  strictly  maintained.  Baptism  is  placed  in  ^,1;(,sIt'',l ,',',' 
the  foreground  as  the  most  important  mystery,  and  ÄSy! 
is  referred  back  to  the  death  of  Christ,  by  which  the 
dominion  of  the  devil,  after  he  has  received  his  dues, 
is  broken.  Faith  often  appears  as  something  prelim- 
inary ;  eternal  life  is  granted  only  to  those  meriting 
it;  these  continue  in  works  of  love,  lastly  however 
in  asceticism.  But  all  are  not  obliged  to  live  thus; 
one  must  distinguish  between  man  data  and  consilia. 
His  treatment  of  alms  is  broad;  it  constitutes 
penance.  Within  the  Church  there  is  forgiveness 
of  all  sins,  under  the  assumption  of  the  satisfactio 
congrua.  There  are  degrees  in  sin,  ranging  from  D|fne|ud°f 
crimes  to  insignificant  every-day  sins;  in  the  same 
manner  there  are  also  degrees  of  good  and  of  bad  men ; 
even  the  best  (sancti,  perfecti)  are  not  free  from  light 
sins.  There  is  a  gradation  of  bliss  (according  to  the 
merita) .  The  departed,  but  not  perfected  good  souls 
are  benefited  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  alms  and 
prayers ;  they  are  in  a  purifying  fire  of  punishment. 
The  common,  superstitious  views  were  in  many  wa}'s  gj™^t°n 
farther  intensified  by  Augustine;  thus  in  regard  to  viei°UEm- 

,.  ,!  phasi/jii. 

purgatory,  to  the  temporary  amelioration  or  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  condemned,  to  the  angels  who  aid  the 
Church  of  this  world,  to  the  completing  by  the  re- 
deemed of  the  heavenly  Church  which  was  deci- 
mated through  the  fall  of  the  angels,  to  the  virginity 
of  Mary  in  partu  and  to  her  singular  purity  and 
conception,  to  the  mild  beginnings  toward  the  calcu- 
lation of  the  value  of  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ, 


:57s       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

finally— to  the  conception  of  salvation  as  visio  et 
fr  u  it to  Dei,  which  again  and  again  comes  to  the 
surface,  and  to  the  joining  of  the  spiritual  powers  to 
mysteriously  operating  sacraments. 
1;1*r,        But,  on  the  other  side,  the  doctrine  of  religion  in 

church  the  Enchiridion  is  new.  To  the  old  symbol  material 
was  added  which  could  be  united  with  it  only  very 
loosely  and  which  at  the  same  time  modifies  the  orig- 
inal elements.  In  all  three  articles  the  treatment  of 
sin,  forgiveness  of  sin  and  perfection  in  love  is  the 
main  thing  (Ench.  10  seq.  25  seq.  41  seq.  64-68). 
Everything  is  represented  as  an  inward  process,  to 
which  the  very  briefly  treated  old  dogmatic  material 
appears  as  subordinate.  Therefore  the  3d  article 
is  treated  the  most  explicitly.  Already  in  the  brief 
sketch  the  new  appears :  Everything  depends  upon 
faith,  hope,  love;  so  truly  inward  is  religion  (3-8). 
In  the  1st  article  no  cosmology  is  given;  indeed 
physics  as  the  content  of  dogmatics  is  expressly  put 
aside  (0, 16  seq. ) .  Hence  the  various  Logos-doctrines 
are  also  all  wanting.  The  trinity,  handed  down  as 
dogma,  is  compressed  into  a  unity :  It  is  the  Creator. 
In  reality  it  is  one  person  (the  persons  are  moments 
in  God  and  have  no  longer  any  cosmological  mean- 

G(sinnd  m»)  •  Everything  in  religion  is  related  to  God,  as  the 
sole  source  of  all  good,  and  to  sin;  the  latter  is  dis- 
tinguished from  error.  Thus  was  a  break  made  with 
the  old  intellectualism.  AVhenever  there  is  a  refer- 
ence to  sin,  there  is  also  one  to  the  gratia  gratis 
data,  the  predestining  grace,  which  alone  frees  the 


DEVELOPMENT    OF    DOCTRINE    OF    SIN,   ETC.       379 

shackled  will.  With  a  reference  to  the  misericordia 
praeven  iens  and  subsequent  the  exposition  of  the  1st 
article  closes.  How  differently  would  its  words  have 
sounded,  had  Augustine  been  able  to  treat  it  unre- 
strainedly ! — In  the  2d  article  is  touched  quite  briefly 
that  which  the  symbol  really  contains  (the  return  of 
Christ,  without  chiliasm) .  But  the  following  come 
to  the  front:  The  unity  of  Christ's  personality  as  t(J^.s'of 
the  homo  with  whose  soul  the  Word  united  itself,  ugustintr 
the  predestining  grace  which  brought  this  homo  into 
unity  of  person  with  the  Divinity,  although  he  pos- 

3ed  no  deserts,  the  close  connection  between  the 
death  of  Christ  and  the  redemption  from  the  devil, 
the  atonement  and  baptism,  on  the  one  side,  the 
thought  of  the  appearance  and  history  of  Christ  as 
exaltation  in  humility  and  as  the  prototype  of  the 
vita  Christiana,  on  the  other.  The  redemptive  im-  ^p^18 
portance  of  Christ  was  to  Augustine  as  strongly  ex-     ^tkS1*" 

5sed  in  this  humility  in  exaltation  and  in  the 
prototype  (vid.  Bernard  and  Francis)  as  in  Christ's 
death.  The  incarnation  as  such  recedes,  i.e.  is  placed 
in  a  light  which  was  entirely  foreign  to  the  Greeks. 
Accordingly  the  '2d  article  was  quite  changed;  the 
old  dogmatic  material  is  only  the  building  mate- 
rial.— In  the  3d  article  the  unrestrainedness  and  as- 
surance with  which  an  ever-enduring  forgiveness  of 
sins  within  the  Church  is  taught  is  the  principal 
and  the  new  point.  Among  the  masses  the  growing 
laxity  had  called  forth  the  inexhaustible  sacrament 
of  atonement;  but  with  Augustine  the  new  knowl- 


380       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

edge  had  been  given  through  an  intensifying  of  the 
consciousness  of  sin  and  a  burrowing  into  the  grace 

vu'Üsti.H.,  of  God,  as  Paul  has  taught  it.  True,  the  question  of 
the  personal  assurance  of  salvation  had  as  yet  not 
touched  his  soul — he  stands  between  the  ancient 
Church  and  Luther — ;  the  question,  How  can  I  be  rid 
of  my  sins  and  be  filled  with  the  power  of  God?  was 
his  fundamental  question.  In  following  the  vulgar 
Catholic  teaching  he  looks  about  for  good  works ;  but 
he  conceived  them  as  the  product  of  grace  and  of  the 
will  which  is  dependent  upon  grace ;  he  accordingly 
warned  men  against  relying  upon  outward  acts.  Cul- 
tus  and  even  alms  he  put  aside;  he  knows  that  it  is 
a  question  of  inward  transformation,  of  a  pure  heart 
and  a  new  spirit.     At  the  same  time  he  is  sure  that 

Sofsfn  a^er  baptism  the  way  also  to  forgiveness  of  sins 
ever  stands  open  to  the  penitent,  and  that  he  who 
does  not  believe  in  this  commits  the  sin  against  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  is  an  entirely  new  interpretation 
of  the  Gospel  passage.  Very  explicitly  was  the  con- 
clusion of  the  S3mibol  {resurrectio  carnis)  explained. 
But  the  main  point  here,  after  a  short  explanation 
of  the  real  theme,  is :  The  new  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation as  the  strength  of  his  theology ;  furthermore 
the  idea,  essentially  new  as  a  doctrine  (it  stands  in 
place  of  Origen's  doctrine  regarding  the  apokatas- 
tasis),  of  a  purification  of  souls  in  the  hereafter,  to- 
ward which  the  prayers  and  sacrifices  of  survivors 
are  able  to  contribute. 
Piety.  Piety:  Faith  and  love  in  place  of  fear  and  hope; 


ness 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   SIN,  ETC.       381 


religion :  Something  higher  than  all  that  is  called 
doctrine,  a  new  life  in  the  strength  of  love;  the  doc- 
trine of  Scripture :  The  things  (the  Gospel,  faith,  love, 
hope — God) ;  the  trinity :  The  one  living  God ;  Chris- 
tology :  The  one  Mediator,  the  man  Jesus,  with  whose 
soul  the  Divinity  has  been  united,  without  the  former 
having  deserved  it ;  redemption :  Death  for  the  ben- 
efit of  enemies  and  humility  in  exaltation;  grace: 
The  new  creative,  changeless  power  of  love;  the  sac- 
raments :  The  Word  along  with  the  sign ;  bliss :  The 
beat  a  necessitas  of  the  good ;  the  good :  Dependence 
upon  God ;  history :  God  does  everything  according 
to  his  pleasure.  Compare  with  this  the  Greek  dog- 
matics !  True,  the  old  dogma  grew  the  more  rigid, 
the  farther  they  were  pushed  into  the  background 
(not  abolished) ;  they  became  ecclesiastical  law  and 
order.  The  new  doctrines  remained  still  fluid ;  they 
had  not  as  yet  received  the  form  and  value  of  dog- 
mas. Through  Augustine  Church  doctrine  became 
more  indefinite  as  regards  extent  and  importance. 
On  the  one  hand  it  was  traced  back  to  the  Gospel,  on 
the  other  it  defined  its  limits  less  sharply  in  relation 
to  theology,  since  a  definite  formulation  was  lack- 
ing. Around  the  old  dogma,  which  maintained 
themselves  in  rigid  validity,  a  large  indefinite  circle 
of  doctrines  was  formed,  in  which  the  most  impor- 
tant thoughts  concerning  faith  lived,  and  which  not- 
withstanding could  be  surveyed  and  firmly  fixed  by 
no  one.  That  was  the  condition  of  the  dogma  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages.     By  the  side  of  the  rigidity 


Religion. 

Doctrine. 

Trinity 

Chris- 
tology. 


Redemp- 
tion. 

Grace. 

Sacra- 
ments. 


The  Good. 
History. 


382       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

there  had  already  begun  the  process  of  inward  dis- 
solution. 

CHAPTER  V. 

HISTORY   OF   DOGMA   IN   THE   OCCIDENT   TILL   THE 
BEGINNING   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  (430-604). 

Möller,  Semipelagianismus  R.  E.2    Wiggers,  i.  Z.  f.  h.  Th., 
1854  f . ,  and  elsewhere.     Lau,  Gregor  d.  Gr. ,  1845. 

hoiic        The    Western    Roman    empire    collapsed.      The 

Church 

Bw5ts£!0  Catholic  Church  stepped  in  as  the  heir  of  the  empire, 
Empire,  the  Roman  bishop  as  the  heir  of  the  emperor  (Leo  I. 
and  his  successors  in  the  5th  century).  But  the 
papacy,  scarcely  put  at  the  head,  experienced  in  the 
time  of  Justinian  a  severe  reverse,  from  which  Gre- 
gory alone  succored  it.  During  the  5th  and  6th  cen- 
turies the  Roman  church  was  not  as  yet  able  to  disci- 
pline the  barbarian  nations;  for  they  were  Arian 
and  Rome  was  not  free  but  chained  to  the  Orient 
The        from  the  6th  century  on.     The  Franks  alone  became 

Franks. 

Catholic,  yet  they  at  first  remained  independent  of 
Rome.  Nevertheless  just  at  this  time  the  claim  of 
the  Roman  bishop,  that  everything  valid  of  Peter 
(especially  Mt.  16 :17  seq.)  was  also  valid  of  him,  ob- 
tained recognition.  Dogmatic  efforts  were  limited 
to  the  reception  and  toning  down  of  Augustinianism 
in  the  sense  of  gluing  it  on  to  the  common  Catho- 
lic teaching.  As  regards  the  old  Roman  sym- 
bol, it  obtained  in  Gaul  at  that  time  its  pres- 
ent  form,    in  which  especially   the  new   expression 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      383 

"  communio  sanctorum "    (Faustus  of  Reji)   is  of 
importance. 

I.   Contest  between  Semi-Pelagianism  and 
Augustinianism. 

Grateful  esteem  for  Augustine,  rejection  of  Pe-  Predestina- 
lagianism,  recognition  of  the  universal  hereditary  resistibiiis. 
peccability  and  of  the  necessity  of  grace  (as  adiuto- 
riam)  did  not  as  yet  mean  the  recognition  of  predes- 
tination and  of  the  gratia  irresistibilis.  Justifi- 
cation by  works,  for  which  Augustine  himself  left  a 
concealed  place,  and  a  correct  instinct  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal self-preservation  reacted  against  these  doctrines. 
During  Augustine's  life-time  they  had  already  called 
forth  uneasiness  and  doubt  among  the  monks  of 
Hadrumet  (Aug.  de  gratia  et  libero  arbitrio  and  de 
corruptione  et  gratia) .  A  year  or  two  later  (428-429) 
his  devoted  friends  reported  to  him  that  in  the  south 
of  Gaul  (monks  at  Massilia  and  other  places)  there  ^assnia* 
was  an  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  predestination 
and  of  the  inability  of  the  will,  because  it  paralyzed 
the  Christian  preaching.  Augustine  by  his  writings 
de  praedest.  sand,  and  de  dono  per  sever  antiae  con- 
firmed his  friends,  but  rather  goaded  his  opponents. 
After  his  death  the  "  servi  dei"  in  southern  Gaul 
advanced  more  daringly,  yet  not  quite  openly 
for  Augustine  possessed  great  authority.  The 
Commonitorium  of  Vincent,  which  formulates  the 
strictly  ecclesiastic  traditional  point  of  view  (see 
above,  p.  221),  is  aimed,  at  least  indirectly,  against 


384       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY    OF   DOGMA. 

I,,,in       the  newness  of  Augustine's  doctrine;   John  Cassi- 

Cassian.  ° 

an,  the  father  of  the  south  Gallic  monks,  gave  in 
his  "  collationes  "  expression  to  semi-Pelagianism, 
although  he  had  learned  much  from  Augustine.  The 
Points  of  decisive  points  of  semi-Pelagianism  are  the  actual 
gianism.  universality  of  grace,  the  accountability  (responsi- 
bility) of  man — herein  is  it  evangelical — and  the 
importance  of  good  works.  Accordingly  the  gratia 
praeveniens  is  in  general  admitted  only  as  outward 
grace.  God  created  the  conditions,  opportunity  and 
possibility  of  our  salvation ;  but  inward  (sanctifying) 
grace  concurs  with  the  free  will,  which  is  accord- 
ingly a  co-ordinate  factor.  Therefore  the  one  as  well 
as  the  other  may  lead  the  way,  and  a  gratia  irre- 
sistibilis  is  as  much  excluded  as  a  predestination  in- 
dependent of  the  Divine  prescience  (of  free  actions). 
The  latter  involves  an  ingens  sacrilegium  {i.e.  fatal- 
ism), even  if  the  reservation  must  stand  that  God's 
Hiiarius    ways  are  incomprehensible  (like  Hilarius  of  Aries, 

Am  hor  of  n  _       .  n     _.         _ 

"Praedes-  and  more  decidedly,  but  at  the  same  time  sriven  to 
lying,  the  unknown  author  of  the  "  Praedestinatns  ", 
the  origin  of  which  is  still  a  riddle — the  representa- 
tion is  fairly  in  keeping  with  that  of  Jerome,  as 
general  doctrine  it  is  more  hesitating  than  that  of 
Augustine,  as  an  expression  of  Christian  self-judg- 
ment it  is  a  desertion  of  the  truth).  The  defenders 
of  Augustine,  Prosper  and  the  unknown  author  of 
the  libri  IL  de  vocatione  gentium  (milder  than 
Augustinianism) ,  did  not  produce  a  decisive  effect, 
although  pope  Cölestius  reprimanded  their  opponents 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   SIN,  ETC.      385 


as  over-curious  people.  During  the  last  decades  of 
the  5th  century  semi-Pelagianism  obtained  an  excel- 
lent representative  in  the  renowned  teacher  of  south- 
ern Gaul,  Faustus  of  Reji,  an  amiable  and  mild 
abbot  and  bishop,  who  turned  as  well  against  Pe- 
lagius  "pestifer",  as  against  the  grave  error  of  pre- 
destination (in  his  writing,  de  gratia  clei  et  humanae 
mentis  liber o  arbitrio),  and  who  induced  the  strictly 
Augustinian  presbyter  Lucidus  to  recant,  after  that 
the  doctrine  of  predestination  had  been  condemned 
at  the  synod  of  Aries  (475).  Faustus  in  his  doctrine 
is  still  more  monkish  than  Cassian  and  less  influenced 
by  Augustine.  He  already  brought  forward  implic- 
itly the  doctrine  of  meritum  de  congruo  et  condigno. 
In  the  fides  as  knowledge  and  in  the  endeavors  of 
the  will  to  reform  itself  there  lies  a  meritum,  born 
of  the  gratia  prima,  which  participates  in  the  re- 
deeming grace  that  now  works  in  union  with  the 
will,  so  that  perfect  merita  are  produced. 

Like  as  Pelagianism  and  Nestorianism,  which  are 
inwardly  united,  were  once  drawn  into  a  common 
fate,  so  also  was  semi-Pelagianism  entangled  in  the 
Christological  controversy  and  found  therein  its  pro- 
visional end.  The  theopascliite  Scythian  monks  in 
Constantinople  (see  above,  p.  297),  who  in  their 
Christology  especially  emphasized  the  Divine  factor, 
denounced  the  Occidental  theologians  (Faustus)  as 
enemies  of  the  correct  Christology  and  as  opponents 
of  grace,  taking  their  stand  with  Augustine.     The 

pope  gave  an  evasive  decision,  but  the  monks  found 
25 


Faustus. 
of  Reji. 


Meritum 
De  Con- 
gruo et 
Condigno. 


Scythian 
Monks  in 
Constanti- 
nople. 


386       OUTLINES   OF   THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


Caesarius 
of  Aries. 


allies    among  the  bishops  who  had  been  banished 
Fuigentius   from   North  Africa  into  Sardinia.     Fulgentius    of 

of  Ruspe. 

Ruspe  wrote  about  520  several  important  letters 
against  the  authority  of  Faustus,  in  which  complete 
Augustinianism  is  set  forth  (particularity  of  grace, 
praedestinatio  adpoenam).  These  and  the  reading 
of  Augustine's  sermons  had  its  effect  also  in  south- 
ern Gaul.  The  age  saw  but  the  one  dilemma,  either 
Augustine  is  a  heretic,  or  a  holy  teacher.  The  great 
Gallic  preacher,  who  had  obtained  his  education  en- 
tirely from  Augustine,  Caesarius  of  Aries  (f  542), 
averted  the  South-Gallic  opposition,  which  had  be- 
come boisterous  at  the  synod  of  Valence ;  supported 
by  the  pope  he  gained  the  victory  at  the  small  synod 
of  Orange  (525)  with  the  25  "  Chapters",  which  the 
pope  had  extracted  from  the  writings  of  Augustine 
and  Prosper  and  sent  to  the  southern  Gauls  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  early  fathers.  A  few  only  in  south- 
ern Gaul  supported  Caesarius  (Avitus  of  Vienne,  f 
523) ;  but  most  of  the  bishops  were  perhaps  no  longer 
capable  of  following  the  point  under  controversy. 
The  approval  of  pope  Boniface  II.  strengthened  the 
authority  of  the  decrees  of  Orange,  which  were  later 
tolerantly  considered  by  the  Tridentine  council.  The 
"Chapters"  are  Augustinian,  but  predestination  is 
wanting;  and  the  inward  process  of  grace  upon 
which  for  Augustine  the  principal  emphasis  lay  is 
not  deservingly  appreciated.  The  gratia praeveniens 
is  taught  unequivocally,  because  the  strict  conception 
of  hereditary  sin  and  with  it  the  doctrine  of  grace 


25 
Chapters. 


Boniface 
II. 


Gratia 
Praeveni- 
ens. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      387 

were  emphasized  by  the  monkish  views  regarding 
the  impurity  of  matrimony.  But  otherwise  the  doc- 
trine is  in  reality  an  Augustinianism  without  Augus- 
tine, or  could  easily  be  understood  as  such;  i.e.  the 
vulgar  Catholic  views  concerning  outward  grace  and 
works  could  and  would  maintain  themselves  along- 
side of  it. 

2.   Gregory  the  Great  (590-604). 

Rome  finally  advanced  the  formulas  of  Augustin-  Gregory  i. 
ianism  to  victory,  although  its  bishops  in  the  6th 
century  withdrew  far  from  the  same.  Gregory  I.,  a 
pope  highly  influential  through  his  personality  (a 
monk) ,  his  letters,  writings  (regula  pastoralis,  dia- 
logic expos,  in  Job  seu  moralia,  Jiomil.  in  Ezeck.) 
and  liturgical  reforms,  under  the  cover  of  Augus- 
tinian  language  strengthened  the  vulgar  Catholic 
type,  by  means  of  superstitious  elements,  then  gave 
expression  to  it  again,  and  brought  forward  into 
prominence  the  old  Occidental  conception  of  religion 
as  legalistic  organization.     The  miraculous  became  Miraculous 

00  in  Rehg- 

characteristic  of  religion.  The  latter  lived  among  lon' 
angels,  devils,  sacraments,  sacrifices,  penitential 
rites,  punishment  of  sins,  fear  and  hope,  but  not  in 
sure  confidence  in  God  through  Christ  and  in  love. 
Even  if  Gregory  personally  indulged  in  Augustinian 
thoughts  and  manifested  in  his  own  way  justice, 
gentleness  and  freedom,  yet  the  variegated  form 
of  his  theology  testifies  that  even  the  best  men  at 
that  time  were  not  able  to  withdraw  from  the  relig- 


388       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

ious  barbarism  into  which  antiquity  had  dissolved. 

Gregory  was  in  after  time  more  read  and  lauded 

than  Augustine.     For  nearly  half  a  millennium  he 

Gregory     dominated  without  a  rival  the  history  of  dogma  in 

Doih  mates  ^ 

Hai? omu-  the  Occident,  and  he  really  dominates  Catholicism 
even  now.  He  indeed  created  nothing  new ;  but  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  accentuated  the  various 
doctrines  and  Church  customs  and  introduced  a  sec- 
ond-rate religion  into  theology,  he  created  the  vulgar 
type  of  Roman  Catholicism.  Especially  worthy  of 
Repro-     mention  are  the  following:  (1)    He  reproduced  the 

dUCeS  •  A  • 

Augustine   most  valuable  series  of  Augustine  s  thoughts  con- 

with  Semi-  °  ° 

Modmca-  cerning  the  inner  effect  and  appropriation  of  grace, 
in  part  even  independent  of  the  latter,  attributing 
also  to  the  Word  (verbnm  fidei)  great  importance; 
but  he  gave  to  all  phases  of  the  Augustinian  ordo 
salutis  a  semi-Pelagian  cast,  since  he  conceived  the 
liberum  arbitrium  as  a  factor  coordinate  with  grace 
("  nosmet  ipsos  liber  are  dicimur,  quia  liber  anti 
sacrifice  of  nos  domino  consentimus  ") ;  (2)  He  felt  the  impor- 

Christ  Re-  V    '  l 

plated  h>  tance  of  the  death  of  Christ,  perhaps  more  intensely 
supper.  ^.jian  Augustine,  but  among  the  different  points  of 
view  under  which  he  placed  it  the  apocryphal  pre- 
dominates: Through  Christ's  death  the  devil  was 
overcome,  after  he  had  been  cheated;  in  the  Lord's 
Supper  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  actually  repeated 
(here  Gregory's  doctrine  has  become  especially  the 
standard),  and  thus  an  imaginary  sacrifice  takes  the 
place  of  the  historical ;  but  otherwise  also  the  his- 
torical Christ  appears  supplanted,  viz.  by  his  own 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   DOCTRINE   OP  SIN,  ETC.      389 

meritum,  which  as  the  result  of  a  sinless  life  and 
holy  death  is  separated  from  him,  an  actual  good 
necessary  to  every  one  in  order  to  appease  the  angry 
God,  but  in  its  value  to  the  individual  quite  an  un- 
certain treasure ;  (3)  With  this  conception  of  the  in- 
tercession of  the  meritum  Christi.  Gregory  united     interces- 

'  to      J  sion  of 

the  hitherto  uncertain  thoughts  regarding  the  inter-  Saints,  etc. 
cession  of  the  saints  and  the  service  of  the  angels, 
and  exalted  them  to  the  lofty  plane  of  "theology". 
He  legitimized  the  pagan  superstition  which  had 
need  of  demi-gods  and  graded  deities,  had  re- 
course to  the  holy  bodies  of  martyrs  and  joined  the 
service  of  Christ  closely  with  that  of  the  saints, 
classifying  and  commending  the  archangels  and 
guardian-angels,  and  fortifying  the  evil  practice  by 
his  doctrine ;  (4)  Hierarch  more  in  practice  than  in     cl™r?h. 

'  ■"■  and  Civi- 

doctrine,  he  brought  out  strongly  the  similarity  of  tasDei- 
the  Church  and  the  civitas  Dei,  for  he  lived  at  a 
time  when  nothing  of  value  existed  save  the  Church. 
He  extolled  the  latter  as  the  congregatio  sanctorum, 
but  in  reality  it  was  to  him  an  educational  institu- 
tion, repelling  the  evil  and  dispensing  grace ;  a  higher 
idea  the  men  of  that  day  dare  not  set  before  them- 
selves. To  him  the  Roman  bishop  was  the  master 
only  of  the  sinning  bishops  (the  laity  no  longer  play 
any  part  at  all),  but  sinners  were  they  all  ("si  qua 
culpa  in  episcopis  invenitur,  nescio  quis  Petri 
successori  subiectus  non  sit;  cum  vero  culpa  non 
exigit,  omnes  secundum  rationem  humilitatis  ae- 
quales  sunt") ;  (5)  Gregory  still  knows  what  inner 


390       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

.  »l.i  Roman  o-jfts  0f  grace  and  virtue  are,  but  the  exterminated 

Statutory     O  o 

p'roi'Srfted.  Roman  paganism  had  notwithstanding  transmitted 
to  him  also  its  inventory  and  its  religious  mode  of 
thought  in  such  a  perfect  way  that  he  encased  all 
religious  duties  and  virtues  in  statutory,  firmly  out- 
lined ceremonies,  which  were  in  part  adopted  old 
Roman  customs;  here  also  he  created  in  reality  lit- 
tle that  was  new,  but  he  elevated  to  ecclesiastical 
ordinances  of  salvation  of  the  first  rank  the  Roman 
"  religio"  together  with  the  remnants  of  the  mysteries 
which  long  since  had  obtained  civic  rights  in  the 

Husnifityi  Church ;  (6)  Gregory  had  a  feeling  for  true  humil- 
Demai.  ity,  but  he  strengthened  the  trend  which  this  virtue 
had  taken  toward  monastic  "  humilitas",  self-denial 
and  spiritual  self-deception :  With  the  simple  sense 
of  truth  the  sense  of  truthfulness  died  out — it  became 
night;  and  the  world  of  the  inner  life  also,  which 
Augustine  had  enlightened,  grew  dark  again;    (7) 

Penance.  Gregory's  deductions  concerning  penitence  became 
the  most  consequential ;  in  these  his  theology  lived 
and  from  them  one  could  wholly  construe  it.  The 
inscrutable  God  is  the  Requiter  and  leaves  no  sin 
unpunished ;  in  baptism  he  has  overlooked  inherited 
sin,  but  it  is  our  concern  to  gain  blessedness  through 
penance  and  good  works  by  the  aid  of  the  hand  of 
grace.  Of  the  three  parts  of  penitence  (conversio 
mentis,  confessio  oris,  vindictapeccati)  the  penalty 
to  be  paid  for  sin  becomes  in  reality  the  most  impor- 
tant. By  Gregory  the  fatal  transposition  was  first 
carried  out  that  the  "  satisfactiones" ,  which  origin- 


sions, 
Masses,  etc. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OP  SIN,  ETC.      391 

ally  were  considered  a  sure  attestation  of  repentance,  tfonlsfi£ 
are  the  satisfying  penalties  for  sin,  to  which  one 
submits  in  order  to  avoid  eternal  punishment.  The 
merit  of  Christ  and  the  power  of  the  Church  seem  to 
consist  in  the  very  fact  that  eternal  punishment  is 
changed  into  temporal;  these  temporal  penalties, 
however,  are  again  diminished,  abbreviated,  or  pre- 
vented by  the  intercession  of  Christ  and  the  saints, 
by  masses  for  the  soul,  relics,  amulets,  etc.  The 
fact  which  has  always  been  observable  in  the  history 
of  religion,  that  wherever  religion  takes  its  aim  from 
morals  it  becomes  immoral,  is  exemplified  here  also. 
In  the  main  principle  the  severe  idea  of  retribution 
dominates,  in  the  subordinate  all  possible  means  of 
salvation  come  into  play,  in  part  not  even  with  Chris- 
tian etiquette,  and  in  the  final  instance  casuistry  and 
fear  rule.  Long  before  this  view  sufficed  no  longer 
for  this  life  and  for  time,  and  yet  men  had  not  dared 
to  reach  over  into  eternity — for  who  could  then  be 
considered  saved? — but  Gregory  was  the  first  to  se- 
curely introduce  purgatory  into  theology,  thereby 
conquering  an  immense  province  for  the  Church,  to 
remove  hell  farther  away,  and  thus  to  procure  for 
uncertainty  a  new  comfort,  but  no  rest. 


392       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HISTORY   OF   DOGMA   IN   THE   TIME   OF   THE 
CARLOVINGIAN  RENAISSANCE. 

Bach,  DG.  des  MA.,  2  Bdd.,  1873  f.  Reuter,  Gesch.  d.  re- 
lig.  Aufklärung  im  MA. ,  2  Bdd. ,  1875  f .  Hauck,  KGesch. 
Deutschlands,  2  Bdd. ,  1887  f .  Schwane,  DG.  d.  mittleren 
Zt. ,  1882.  Spiess,  Gesch.  d.  Unterrichtswesen  i.  Deutschi,  bis 
z.  Mitte  d.  13.  Jahrh. ,  1885.  Hatch,  The  Growth  of  Church 
Institutions,  1887. 


ciovis.  Clovis'  conversion  to  Christianity  and  Gregory's 
missionary  efforts  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  among  the  Germans.  In  the  7th  century 
Arianism  died  out ;  in  the  8th  Rome  was  forced  to 
transfer  the  centre  of  gravity  of  its  politics  to  the 
Romano-Germanic  empire.  Newly  converted  Eng- 
P3harfe^d  ^an^  an(^  Germany  became  at  once  Roman.  Pepin 
and  Charles  the  Great  made  advances  to  the  pope. 
At  first  the  new  kingdom  of  the  Franks  gained  more 
than  the  pope ;  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  the 
latter  obtained  the  highest  benefit  from  the  confeder- 
ation, not  because  the  idea  in  itself  of  the  Christian 
conqueror  signified  less  than  that  of  the  successor  of 
Peter,  but  because  it  demanded  the  foundation  of  an 
actual  world-empire,  which,  however,  could  be  only 
temporarily  created. 

Spiritual  life  and  theology  had,  prior  to  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Great,  no  progressive  history;   the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       393 

Carlo vingian  epoch  was  a  great  and,  in  many  respects, 
abortive  attempt  at  a  revival  of  antiquity  and  likewise 
also  of  the  theology  of  the  fathers.  Whatever  of 
theology  was  at  hand  prior  to  about  the  year  800  is 
compendium  and  excerpt  (Isidore  of  Seville,  Bede,  ^Tarsus 
later  Rabanus),  is  in  a  certain  measure  "  institu-  Aicum. 
tion",  like  the  whole  of  religion.  Through  Bede  and 
Alcuin,  Augustine  was  revived.  It  was  a  great  ad- 
vance when  men  began  to  really  understand  him 
again — in  some  respects  better  than  did  Gregory  (Al- 
cuin, Agobard  and  others) — ;  still  as  an  independent 
thinker  Scotus  Erigena  alone  can  be  named,  whose      scotus 

Erigena. 

mystical  pantheism,  derived  from  the  Areopagite 
and  Augustine  ("  de  divisione  naturae") ,  remained 
however  wholly  without  effect.  The  effort  at  cul- 
ture in  the  9th  century  was  a  very  respectable  one 
(see  the  manuscripts  preserved  to  us).  Starting  in 
England  (Theodore  of  Tarsus,  Bede,  Alcuin)  it  swept 
over  the  continent  and  was  strengthened  by  the  cul- 
ture of  Italy,  which  had  never  been  entirely  extin- 
guished. But  during  the  great  convulsions  after  the 
third  quarter  of  the  9th  century  everything  seemed 
again  to  be  engulfed.  The  dogmatic  controversies 
of  the  age  originated,  in  part,  in  the  hitherto  hidden 
but  now  strictly  drawn  consequences  of  Augustinian- 
ism,  and,  in  part,  in  the  relationship  then  sustained 
toward  the  Orient.  The  farther  development  of  the 
mass  and  of  penance,  in  practice  and  in  theory,  de- 
serves especial  attention. 


394       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

1  A.  The  Adoption  Controversy. 
Hauck,  a.  a.  O.  II.  ;  Gams,  Kirchengesclii elite  Spaniens  II. 
ciiristoi-        jn  the  Occident  after  severe  contests  the  Christol- 

ojry  or  otli 

DoSnait  ogy  of  the  5th  council  gained  the  victory,  and  in 
Occident,  spite  of  the  6th  council  this  mystical  view,  under 
the  guise  of  monophysitism,  supplanted  the  strict 
Chalcedon,  since  the  superstitious  ideas  about  the 
Lord's  Supper  favored  it.  Spain  was  less  influenced 
by  this  development.  In  the  Muzarabic  liturgy  stood 
the  Augustinian  formula  of  the  passio  filii  adop- 
EJipandus  tivi.  Elipaiidus,  the  tyrannical  bishop  of  Toledo, 
full  of  national  pride,  brought  into  notice  about  the 
year  780  the  old  doctrine  that  Christ  as  regards  his 
human  nature  is  filius  dei  adoptivas,  the  redeemed 
therefore  in  the  fullest  sense  brethren  of  the  man 
Jesus.  Very  likely  he  desired  a  formula  different 
from  that  of  Rome  as  an  expression  of  the  orthodoxy 
which  was  to  be  found  only  in  Spain.  From  inward 
conviction  and  with  high  regard  for  the  human  per- 
NapL?  son  Jesus>  Felix,  bishop  of  Naples,  who  occupied 
a  chair  in  the  empire  of  Charles,  championed  the 
same  (reading  of  Antiochian  scriptures  is  probable). 
After  that  Beatus  and  Eterius  had  defended  the  op- 
position doctrine  in  Spain,  the  Franconian  theolo- 
gians, especially  Alcuin,  interfered.  Monophysites 
and  Nestorians  faced  each  other  under  new  helmets ; 
but  to  Charles  the  opportunity  of  proving  himself 
the  guardian  of  orthodoxy  and   the  master  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      395 

Church  was  welcome.     Adoptionism  was  condemned    Adoption- 

r  ism  Con- 

at  the  synods  of  Regensburg  (792),  Frankfurt  (794),  demned' 
and  Aachen  (799),  Felix  was  repeatedly  forced  to 
recant,  and  Frankish  Spain  was  recalled  through 
theology  and  gentle  pressure  (wheel  of  torture)  to 
the  unity  of  the  mystical  faith.  The  doctrine  of 
John  of  Damascus,  which  conceived  the  human  na- 
ture in  Christ  as  impersonal  and  placed  it  as  the  as- 
sumed nature  of  the  Logos  in  complete  unity  with 
him,  gained  the  victory  in  the  Occident  also.  Yet 
in  spite  of  the  realistic  doctrine  concerning  the  Lord's 
Supper  which  crowded  out  the  historical  Christ  and 
demanded  a  fine  monophysitism,  Augustinian-adop- 
tion  ideas  were  preserved  through  the  later  theolo- 
gians of  the  Middle  Ages. 

1  B.  The  Predestination  Controversy. 

Wiggers,  i.  d.  Z.  f.  h.  Th.,  1859.  Weizsäcker,  i.  d.  Jh.  f. 
d.  Th. ,  1859.  Monographs  on  Hinkmar,  by  von  Noorden 
u.  Schrörs. 

The  dominating  ecclesiastical  system  was  semi-  Seifain?enf" 
Pelagian;   but   in   the   9th   century  Augustine  was   Dominant- 
again   diligently  studied.      That  during  the  crisis 
which  arose  Augustinianism  was  after  all  not  rein- 
stated,   notwithstanding  all  the  good  Augustinian 
phrases,  is  a  proof  of  the  power  of  ecclesiasticism. 
The  monk  Gottschalk  of  Orbais  maintained  the  doc-  of0tto?S 
trine  of  predestination  with  the  power  of  Augustine, 
likewise  as  the  chief  and  original  doctrine,  finding 
in  it  the  key  to  the  riddle  of  his  own  life.     He  pro- 


396       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

claimed  the  praedestinatio  gemina  {ad  vitam  et  ad 
mortem) ,  yet  was  of  the  opinion  that  God  predestined 
only  the  good  and  that  he  merely  had  a  fore-knowl- 
edge of  the  evil.  Not  ivhat  he  said  (Fulgentius  and 
Isidore  had  tanght  nothing  different)  but  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  presented  it  to  the  Church  aroused 
enemies  against  him.  He  was  condemned  at  May- 
Rabanus,  ence  (848)  by  Rabanus,  at  Chiersey  (849)  by  Hincmar 
and  taken  into  custody  as  a  "  miser abilis  monachus", 
from  which  he  never  escaped,  since  he  persistently  re- 
fused to  recant.  But  the  most  eminent  theologians 
went  over  to  his  side,  not  so  much  because  they  were 
in  earnest  about  Augustinianism,  as  to  make  difficul- 
ties for  Hincmar  and  to  preserve  as  traditionalists 
the  Augustinian  "language".  From  the  kingdom  of 
Lothar  especially  came  the  opposition  to  the  Raban- 
Hincmar  thesis,  that  predestination  should  be  deduced 
from  the  prescience  and  be  limited  to  the  saints.  Hinc- 
mar tried  to  defend  himself  at  the  synod  of  Chiersey 
(853)  against  the  herd  of  Alcuin  disciples  (Prudentius 
of  Troyes,  Ratramnus,  Lupus  of  Ferneres,  Servatus 
Lupus,  Remigius  of  Lyon,  the  provincial  bishops) 
by  making  in  the  "  Chapters"  large  concessions  to 
Augustinianism,  yet  retaining  in  his  doctrine  of 
one  predestination,  God's  purpose  of  universal  salva- 
tion, etc.  In  these  objective  and  subjective  untrue 
"  Chapters"  the  point  under  consideration  was  no 
longer  clearly  expressed.  Those  who  by  word  of 
mouth  acknowledged  the  whole  of  Augustinianism 
meant  at  that  time  only  the  half,  and  those  who,  like 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      307 

Hincmar,  rejected  a  part  did  in  truth  not  want 
any  at  all.  In  the  archbishopric  of  Sens  and  in 
the  south  of  France  the  resolutions  of  Chiersey  did 
not  give  satisfaction.  At  Valence,  855,  the  gemina  prf^jsti 
praedestinatio  was  proclaimed  and  Augustinianism  natl°* 
in  general  announced.  At  the  great  synods  of  the 
three  empires  at  Savonieres  (859)  and  Toucy  (860)  a 
unification  was  not  so  much  secured  as  a  paralyza- 
tion  of  the  controversy  through  agreement.  Hinc- 
mar's  conception  of  the  doctrine,  i.e.  Gregory  the 
First's,  was  in  reality  victorious.  The  doctrine  of 
God's  purpose  of  universal  salvation,  of  the  quick 
and  sure  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  and  of  the  con- 
currence of  free-will  continued  in  force ;  the  doctrine 
of  predestination  reappeared  as  a  decorative  element 
in  theology.  Only  in  this  form  was  it  compatible 
with  empirical  ecclesiasticism. 

2.   The  Controversy  about  the  Filioque  and  about 

Images. 

Hefele,  Concil.  Gesch.,  Bd.  III.     Pichler,  Gesch.  d.  kirchl. 
Trennung  zwischen  dem  Orient  und  Occident.  2  Bde. ,  1864  f. 

The  Augustinian-Spanish  formula  "filioque"  (see  Auf£jin" 
I.  p.  271)  had  been  accepted  in  France  (see  the  Fmoque. 
synod  of  Gentilly,  767)  and  was  defended  by  the  theo- 
logians of  Charlemagne  (libri  Carolini;  Alcuin,  de 
process,  s.  s.).  At  Aachen,  809,  the  Frankish  church 
resolved  that  the  filioque  belonged  to  the  symbol. 
This  resolution  was  provoked  by  a  grave  injustice 


398       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

which  the  Western  pilgrims  were  called  upon  to  en- 
dure in  Jerusalem.     Although  the  pope  approved  the 
Spanish-Frankish  doctrine,  he  nevertheless  refused 
Rome  Did    admittance  to  the  watch- word  in  the  symbol.     Not 

Not   Adopt  ^ 

1  Century111  until  the  10th  century  does  Rome  appear  to  have  ac- 
cepted it.  If  Charlemagne  widened  the  opening 
breach  between  the  Orient  and  Occident  by  the  "fili- 
oque"  and  had  therefor  only  a  half-ally  in  the  pope,  he 
alienated  himself  still  more  from  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
Orient    by  his  rejection  of   image-worship,  which 

woSSp  ^e  P°Pe  a^so  s^  approved.  The  barbaric  tradition 
of  the  Frankish  church  and  an  Augustinian  element 
(with  Charlemagne  perhaps  also  an  enlightening 
one)  determined  the  attitude  of  the  Occidentals.  At 
Frankfurt,  794,  the  decrees  of  the  7th  council  were  laid 
aside,  j^et  the  resolutions  of  the  synod  of  754  were 
also  rejected.  The  self-confidence  of  the  Frankish 
church  accepted  the  first  six  councils  as  an  expres- 
sion of  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  refused,  however,  to 
be  dictated  to  by  Byzantium  at  the  modern  councils. 
Libri      The   "libri  Carolini"  retain  the  old  ecclesiastical 

Carolini. 

standpoint:  We  will  neither  worship  images,  nor 
attack  them,  but  treat  them  piously.  This  attitude 
was  still  taken  by  Louis  the  Pious  (synod  of  Paris, 
825)  and  Hincmar.  The  pope  preserved  a  discreet 
silence,  and  the  7th  council,  which  was  favorable 
to  images,  gradually  obtained  through  Rome's  influ- 
ence recognition  in  the  Occident  also. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      399 

3.  The  Development,  in  Practice  and  in  Theory, 
of  the  Mass  {Dogma  of  the  Eucharist)  and  of 
Penance. 

Bach,  a.  a.  O.  I.  Rückert,  i.  Hilgenfeld's  Ztchr.,  1858. 
Reuter,  a.  a.  O.  I.  Choisy,  Paschase,  1888.  Geschichte  d. 
Abendmahlslehre  v.  Dieckhoff,  Ebrard,  Kahnis.  Steitz,  D. 
röm.  Busssacrament,  1854. 

The  thought  of  image-representation  was  kept  aloof     Miracle 

and  öcicrci" 

in  an  increasing  measure  from  the  Lord's  Supper;  ^minote" 
men  lived  in  a  world  of  miracle  and  of  sacraments, 
so  much  did  the  tendency  necessarily  increase  to  por- 
tray the  content  of  the  highest  sacrament  in  an  ex- 
travagant manner,  in  order  to  give  it  prominence 
among  the  multitude  of  holy  things ;  the  Christology 
which  allowed  the  historical  Christ  to  disappear  be- 
hind the  unity  of  the  two  "  natures"  tended  toward 
an  ever-present  Christological  mysterium,  which 
could  be  felt  and  enjoyed ;  the  mass  was  considered  The  Mass- 
the  chief  characteristic  and  compendium  of  religion ; 
the  idea  of  the  attributes  of  God  was  more  and  more 
concentrated  in  the  one,  that  he  is  the  almighty, 
wonder-working  Will — all  these  forces  worked  to- 
gether to  bring  about  the  following  result :  The  his- 
torical body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  present  in  the  eucha- 
rist,  since  the  elements  are  transformed  into  it.  The  Docetism 
identification  of  the  sacramental  and  the  real  (histor- 
ical) body  of  Christ  could  the  more  easily  be  carried 
out,  since  men  considered  it  from  the  moment  of  in- 
carnation a  pneumatic  (mysterious)  body  assumed 


400       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

by  the  Divinity,  and  held  docetic  views  in  regard  to 

it,  as  is  proven,  e.g.,  by  the  controversy  in  regard  to 

the  birth  of  Jesus  out  of  Maria  clauso  utero.     The 

Doctrine  of  new  doctrine  of  the  eucharist  would  have  been  for- 

Eucharist. 

mulated  without  difficulty  during  the  Carlovingian 
age,  because  it  already  actually  existed,  had  not  the 
then- revived  study  of  the  Augustinian  conception 
of  sacrament  and  his  spiritualistic  doctrine  of  the 
Paschasius  eucharist  had  a  restraining  influence.     Paschasius 

Radbertus. 

Radbertus,  abbot  of  Corbie,  who  wrote  the  first  mon- 
ograph on  the  Lord's  Supper  (de  corpore  et  sanguine 
dornini,  831),  was,  on  the  one  side,  an  Augustinian 
and  reproduced  without  inward  sympathy  or  real 
comprehension  the  Augustinian  doctrine,  that  the 
act  belongs  to  faith  and  represents  a  spiritual  eat- 
ing ;  but,  on  the  other  side,  he  carried  it  on  to  the 
realistic,  popular  doctrine,  that  in  every  mass  by  a 
miracle  of  the  Almighty  the  elements  are  transformed 
inivardly  but  actually  into  the  body  which  was  born 
of  Mary,  and  are  now  brought  to  God  as  a  sacrifice. 
Outwardly  as  a  rule  no  change  takes  place,  in  order 
that  the  body  of  Christ  may  not  be  bitten  by  the 
lous1  Trans-  teetn-  God  performs  this  miracle,  which  Paschasius 
>n5f  *  conceives  as  a  miracle  of  creation;  the  priest  simply 
directs  his  supplications  to  God.  But  even  if  the 
holy  food  is  in  reality  now  the  real  body  of  Christ 
himself  (the  obvious  appearance  of  the  elements  is 
the  symbol),  the  fact  still  remains  that  only  be- 
lievers partake  of  the  spiritual  food  unto  immortal- 
ity— not,  however,   unbelievers.     Paschasius    drew 


Elements. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      401 

neither  all  the  hierarchical,  nor  "objective"  conse- 
quences of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  but  at- 
tempted to  adjust  the  miracle  to  faith.  He  was  not 
a  theologian  primarily  of  the  mass,  but  wished  to 
be  a  theologian  in  the  sense  of  Augustine  and  the 
Greek  mystics.  Nevertheless  he  encountered  an  un- 
expected contradiction.  Rabanus  expressed  himself, 
in  a  letter  to  Eigel,  in  opposition  to  this  doctrine, 

and  Ratramnus,  a  monk  of  Corbie,  found  in  his  writ-     Ratram- 
nus. 

ings  to  Charles  the  Bald  {de  corpore  et  sanguine 
domini)  that  Paschasius  had  not  done  justice  to  the 
"  spirituale  "  of  Augustine.  But  his  own  explana- 
tions suffer  from  old  ecclesiastical  cloudiness.  Ap- 
parently he  desires,  as  in  the  controversy  about  the 
uterus  clausus,  like  a  good  Augustinian  to  set  aside 
the  unwieldy  miracle  of  almightiness  contra  natu- 
ram  and  to  place,  in  the  interest  of  faith,  the  whole 
stress  upon  the  "  spiritualiter  geri  " ;  but  since  he 
likewise  does  not  doubt  the  presence  of  the  corpus 
domini  after  the  consecration,  he  is  compelled  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  real  body  and  the  body.  The 
born,  crucified  body  is  not  in  the  sacrament — that 
was  the  old  churchly  idea — but  in  the  sacrament 
there  is  the  power  of  the  body  of  Christ  as  an  invis-    invisibiiis 

Substantia. 

ibilis  substantia  and,  in  so  far,  the  pneumatic  body, 
receivable  only  by  the  mind  of  the  faithful.  More- 
over Ratramnus  in  a  few  deductions  made  still  far- 
ther advances  toward  Paschasius;  nevertheless  the 
plainest    conception   is   that   of  the  " potentialiter     F^lf^' 

creari  in  mysterio" ;  but  even  this  conception  was    MySeria 
26 


402        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

no  longer  clear  to  their  superstitious  contemporaries ; 
men  wanted  more  than  faith  reality  and  soul  nour- 
ishment. Paschasius  had  spoken  the  deciding  word. 
The  awe  inspired  by  every  mass  seemed  to  confirm  it 
and  the  same  was  even  heightened  by  the  power  of 
SS    tüe  definite  formulation  of  the  doctrine.     Incarnation 

ReheSsecL  and  crucifixional  sacrifice  were  repeated  at  every 
mass.  What  then  could  even  approximate  this?  It 
was  not  necessary  to  change  the  old  wording  of  the 
prayers  of  the  mass,  which,  if  they  treated  of  sacri- 
fice, emphasized  the  sacrifice  of  praise;  for  who 
gave  heed  to  the  words?  The  mass,  however,  as  a 
sacrificial  act,  in  which  the  God-man  was  offered  up 
to  God,  had  its  culmination  long  since  no  more  in 
real  enjoyment,  but  in  the  consummation  of  the  blot- 
ting out  of  sin  and  removal  of  evil.  It  had  been 
adopted  into  the  great  institution  of  atonement,  and 
MandS      masses  without  communion  (requiems)  were  multi- 

MuitipS.  plied  to  pacify  God.  The  primitive  commemorative 
element  of  the  celebration  had  become  independent, 
especially  since  the  da^ys  of  Gregory  I.,  and  the 
communion  was  changed,  as  it  were,  into  a  second 
celebration.  The  first  celebration,  the  mass,  belonged 
to  the  laity  only  in  so  far  as  it  represented  an  espe- 
cially efficacious  form  of  the  Church's  intercession 
for  the  lightening  of  the  punishment  of  sins.  This 
was  the  only  apparent  effect  of  the  act — an  insignifi- 
cant one,  important  only  through  its  summarizing 
of  an  immense  mystery ! 
The  mass  was  subordinated  to  the  institution  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      403 

penance ;  in  the  latter  was  reflected  the  religious  life,  ordlnatetö 
Punishment  ruled  the  world  and  the  conscience.  Penance- 
The  conception  of  God  as  almighty  Will,  as  Retri- 
bution and  Indulgence  (a  Christian  modification  of 
the  old  Eoman  idea)  was  the  ruling  one.  The  con- 
sequence thereof  was  the  idea  that  merits  and  satis- 
factions were  needed  to  compensate  for  the  breaches 
of  contract  occasioned  by  sin  and  oft  repeated.     Thus     church 

,..,,,,     and   State 

had  Gregory  I.  taught;  moreover  this  view  blended  Blended, 
in  the  German  nations  with  their  national  ideas  of 
law  and  with  their  legal  restrictions.  Since,  how- 
ever, the  Occidental  Church  did  not,  like  the  Oriental, 
relinquish  the  administration  of  law  and  questions  of 
morality  entirely  to  the  state,  but  rather  interposed 
to  discipline  and  punish,  there  was  developed,  parallel 
to  the  state  institution  of  law,  the  Church  institu- 
tion of  penance.  The  detailed  development  of  this 
institution  was  a  consequence  of  the  transfer  and 
application  of  the  discipline  of  penance  within  the 
cloisters  to  the  secular  clergy  and  to  the  laity,  and 
it  originated  with  the  Irish-Scottish,  i.e.  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  church.*     But  through  the  fear  of  the     Fear  of 

ö  °  Punish- 

punishment  of  sin,  of  hell  and  purgatory,  the  laity  He5iienpUr- 
favored  the  practice  and  established  the  influence  of     gatory- 
the  Church  in  its  entire  range,  even  over  private  life 
itself.     A  certain  deepening  of  the  conception  of  sin 
was  the  consequence :  The  people  had  recourse  to  the 
Church,  not  only  in  the  case  of  grave  sins,  but  also 

*  Wasserschieben,  Die  irische  Kanonensammlung,  2.  Aufl. ,  1885.     Brun- 
ner, Deutsche  Rechtsgeschichte  L,  1888. 


Satisfac- 
tions. 


Prayers, 

Alms, 

Exclusion : 

O.  T.  and 

German 

Codes. 


Rehearsal 

of  Death  of 

Christ. 


404       OUTLINES  OF   THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

on  account  of  the  "roots  of  sin"  and  the  hidden 
faults  (gluttony,  sexual  lust,  avarice,  anger,  humor, 
anxiety,  heartfelt  aversion,  arrogance,  pride),  which 
they  now  considered  also  deadly  sins ;  however,  this 
deepening  was  counterbalanced  by  the  stupefying 
readiness  with  which  men  acknowledged  themselves 
ever  as  sinners,  and  by  the  thought  that  intercession 
and  satisfaction  possess  the  power  to  cancel  the  mer- 
ited punishment.  In  truth  men  bestowed  more 
thought  upon  punishment  and  the  remission  of  the 
same  than  upon  sin.  During  the  Carlovingian  age 
the  hierarchical  side  of  the  institution  of  penance 
was  as  yet  little  developed,  and  the  dogmatic  theory 
still  lagged  behind ;  but  the  satisfactions  experienced 
a  new  development  in  connection  with  the  exercise 
of  penance  in  the  form  of  voluntary  confession :  (1) 
To  the  old,  more  or  less,  arbitrary  rules  in  regard  to 
the  choice  and  duration  of  the  compensating  punish- 
ment (prayers,  alms,  lamentations,  temporary  exclu- 
sion) were  added,  in  increasing  measure,  rules  from 
the  Old  Testament  and  from  the  German  code.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  measure  of  the  compensa- 
tory punishment  itself  appeared  in  the  light  of  a 
Divine  ordinance,  (2)  The  compensatory  means  were 
looked  upon  as  things  pleasing  to  God,  which  there- 
fore, if  nothing  had  been  omitted,  in  themselves  es- 
tablish merits;  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ  must 
be  considered  as  the  most  efficacious ;  therefore  the 
rehearsal  of  this  death  (pretii  copiositas  mysterii 
passionis)  was  the  efficacious  and  convenient  means 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      405 

(masses  for  the  dead) ;  besides,  one  should  gain  the 
good  will  of  the  saints  for  their  intercessions  ought 
to  be  efficacious,  since  God  can  demand  nothing  from 
them,  while  they  are  able  to  bring  him  valuable  gifts, 
(3)  Since  the  exercises  of  penance  have  a  material    changes, 

.  Indulgen- 

value  before  God,  thev  can  be  exchanged,  i.e.  lessened     ces,  Re- 

'       -  **  °  missions. 

by  a  repentant  disposition ;  here  especially  the  Church 
steps  in,  since  it  institutes  such  exchanges;  thus 
originated  a  whole  system  of  indulgences,  exchanges, 
and  remissions,  to  the  establishing  of  which  the 
Germanic  law  contributed  (origin  of  indulgences; 
remissions  are  of  primitive  antiquity),  (4)  In  addi-  Substitu- 
tion to  exchanges,  however,  substitution  is  also  pos- 
sible ;  here  the  Germanic  law  had  a  still  stronger  in- 
fluence ;  yet  the  idea  has  also  an  ecclesiastical  root 
in  the  conception  of  Christ  and  the  saints  as  substi- 
tutes, (5)  The  consequence  of  the  whole  conception    Augustin- 

ianism 

was  that  in  the  doing  of  penance  men  sought  not  so  averted, 
much  to  reconcile  God,  the  Father,  as  much  more  to 
escape  from  God,  the  Judge !  This  soul-killing  prac- 
tice entirely  inverted  Augustinianism ;  it  had  influ- 
enced Christology  in  the  time  of  Gregory  I.,  and  it 
operated  decisively  during  the  classic  times  of  the 
Middle  Ages  upon  all  dogmas  of  ancient  standing 
and  created  new  ones. 


406       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Advance 
Movement 
of  Church. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HISTORY  OF  DOGMA  IN  THE  TIME  OF  CLUGNY, 
ANSELM  AND  BERNARD  TO  THE  END  OF  THE 
12TH  CENTURY. 

Reuter  a.  a.  O.  v.  Eicken,  Gesch.  u.  System  d.  MAlichen, 
Weltanschauung,  1887. 

Through  the  institution  of  penance  the  Church 
became  the  decisive  power  in  men's  lives  in  Occi- 
dental Christendom.  An  advance  movement  of  the 
Church,  therefore,  must  of  necessity  benefit  the  whole 
of  Occidental  Christendom.  This  advance  took  place 
at  the  end  of  the  10th  century  and  continued  until 
the  13th  century,  during  which  time  the  supremacy 
of  the  Church  and  the  mediaeval  ecclesiastical  con- 
ception of  the  world  attained  their  perfection.  If 
^tetjan-  one  regards  Christianity  as  doctrine,  the  Middle 
^rCLifee  Ages  appear  almost  like  a  supplement  to  the  history 
of  the  ancient  Church ;  if  one  regards  it  as  life,  then 
ancient  Christianity  only  attained  its  full  develop- 
ment in  the  mediaeval  Occidental  Church.  In  the 
ancient  age  the  motives,  standards  and  ideas  of 
ancient  life  confronted  the  Church  as  barriers.  It 
was  never  able  to  overcome  these  barriers,  as  is 
shown  by  the  Greek  Church :  Monasticism  stands  by 
the  side  of  the  Church ;  the  earthly  Church  is  the  old 
world  supplemented  by  Christian  etiquette.  But  the 
Occidental  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  able  to 
carry  out  much  more  securely  its  peculiar  standards 


Monasti- 
cism. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   SIN,  ETC.      407 

of  monkish  asceticism  and  of  the  domination  of  this 
life  by  the  one  beyond,  because  it  did  not  have  an 
old  cultus  alongside  of  it.  Gradually  it  gathered 
strength  so  as  to  be  able  finally  to  enlist  into  its  ser- 
vice even  the  old  enemy,  Aristotelian  science,  and  to 
transform  the  same  into  an  instrument  of  power.  It 
made  all  the  elements  of  life  and  knowledge  subject 
to  itself.  The  inner  strength  of  its  activity  was  the 
Augustinian-ascetic  piety,  which  broke  forth  in  ever 
new  creations  of  monasticism ;  the  outer  power  was 
the  Roman  pope,  who,  as  the  successor  of  Peter, 
secured  for  himself  both  Christ's  right  and  that  of 
the  Roman  Caesars. 


1.    The  Revival  of  Piety. 

Harnack,  Das  Monchthum,  3.  Aufl.,  1886.  Neander,  d.  h. 
Bernard  (hrsg.  v.  Deutsch,  1889) .  HüfTer,  d.  h.  Bernard  I. , 
1886.     Ritschl,  i.  d.  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1879,  S.  317  f. 

From  Quedlinburg   (Matilda)  and  Clugny  the  re-    Quedlin- 
burg and 
vival  of  piety  had  its  rise.     The  Gregorian  popes,     ciugny. 

the  "  new  congregations"  and  Bernard  enforced  it ; 
the  laity  received  it  more  readily  than  the  worldly 
clergy,  upon  whom  it  made  greater  demands.  It  is 
most  plainly  represented  by  the  crusade  enthusiasm 
and  by  the  founding  of  innumerable  convents. 
Strict  discipline  in  the  convents,  monkish  regula- 
tion of  the  secular  clergy,  the  domination  of  the 
monkish-regulated  Church  over  the  laity,  princes 
and  nations — these  were  its  aims.     Upon  this  found- 


408      OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

ation  alone  it  appeared  possible  to  create  a  truly 
Christian,  i.e.  an  unworldly  life.  The  whole  tem- 
froÄe  poral  life  should  serve  the  life  hereafter:  Supreme 
effort  of  the  world  dominion  of  the  Church  to  gain 
the  most  perfect  victory  over  the  world,  i.e.  escape 
from  the  world.  Freedom  from  the  world  appeared 
possible  only  under  the  condition  of  universal  do- 
minion. Many  monks  also  permitted  themselves  to 
be  blinded  by  this  dialectics,  who  felt  the  contradic- 
tion between  the  aim  and  the  means,  and  preferred 
for  themselves  the  direct  way  of  popularizing  flight 
from  the  world  by  fleeing  from  the  world.  But  the 
Church  was  indeed  also  God's  state  and  not  simply 
the  bestower  of  individual  bliss!  Therefore  did  it 
incite  the  courageous  to  battle  against  Simonistic 
princes  and  worldly  clericals.  To  perfectly  exemplify 
the  difficult  trait  of  a  renunciation  of  the  world, 
the  German  and  the  Romance  peoples  were  still  too 
youthful.  The  violent  disposition  toward  the  con- 
quest of  the  world  united  with  this  and  produced 
that  strange  frame  of  mind,  in  which  the  conscious- 
ness of  strength  alternated  like  a  flash  with  humility, 
longing  after  enjoyment  with  resignation,  cruelty 
with  sentimentality.  Men  desired  nothing  from 
this  world,  they  desired  only  heaven,  and  yet  they 
wished  to  own  this  beautiful  earth. 

Pchrtotof  ^  ^rst  re^gi°us  individualism  was  not  as  yet 
kindled  (yet  take  note  of  the  heresies  which  found 
access  in  the  11th  century,  partly  imported  from  the 
Orient — Bogomils — partly  springing    up    spontane- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      400 

ously),  still  visions  were  brought  back  from  the  Holy 
Land  crusade  for  which  indulgences  had  been 
granted.  The  picture  of  Christ  was  recovered  and 
piety  was  enlivened  by  the  most  vivid  representa- 
tions of  the  suffering  and  dying  Redeemer:  We 
should  follow  him  in  every  step  of  his  passion  jour- 
ney. Accordingly  in  place  of  the  defunct "  adoption- 
ism",  the  man  Jesus  came  again  to  the  front  and 
negative  asceticism  received  a  positive  form  and  a 
new,  fixed  aim.     The  cords  of  Christie-mysticism,     christic- 

^  Mysticism. 

which  Augustine  had  struck  only  with  uncertainty 
grew  into  a  rapturous  melody.  By  the  side  of  the 
sacramental  Christ  stepped' — penance  formed  the 
medium — the  image  of  the  historical  Christ  sublime 
in  his  humility,  innocent,  suffering  punishment,  life 
in  death.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  effects 
which  this  piety,  newly  induced  through  the  "  Ecce 
homo",  had,  and  in  how  many  forms  it  has  developed. 
St.   Bernard    first  gave  it   a   strong  and    effective    „B?Fn.ard 

°  °  Religious 

form;  he  was  the  religious  genius  of  the  12th  cen-  ?£mcen-f 
tury,  and  therefore  also  the  leader  of  the  epoch — 
Augustinus  redivivus,  at  the  same  time  however 
the  most  powerful  ecclesiastic.  In  so  far  as  Bernard 
offers  a  system  of  thought  and  portrays  the  gradual 
progress  of  love  (caritas  and  liumilitas)  even  to  ex- 
cess, he  revived  Augustine.  His  language  is  deter- 
mined by  that  of  the  "  Confessions".  But  in  passion- 
ate love  for  Christ  he  went  beyond  Augustine.  "  Ven- 
eration for  that  which  is  beneath  us",  for  suffering 
and  humility  (devotion) ,  dawned  upon  him  as  never 


tury. 


410      OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

before  upon  any  Christian.     He  venerated  the  cross, 

shame  and  death  as  the  form  of  the  Divine  appearing 

s.m°f  and   upon  earth.     The  study  of  the  Song  of   Songs  and 

('l'llS'lllt* 

the  crusade  enthusiasm  conducted  him  before  the 
image  of  the  crucified  Redeemer,  the  Bridegroom  of 
the  soul.  Into  his  image  he  sunk  himself ;  from  it 
there  beamed  for  him  true  love  and  shone  the  living 
truth.  To  him  the  sensuousness  of  the  contemplation 
of  Christ's  wounds  melted  into  spiritual  exaltation, 
which,  however,  always  rested  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  penance.  Bernard 
united  the  Neo-Platonic  exercises  of  ascent  unto  God 
with  the  contemplation  of  the  crucified  Redeemer 
eristic     and  unfettered  the  subiectiveness  of  the  Christic-mys- 

andismync"  ticism  and  Christie-lyricism.  This  contemplation 
led  him  in  his  sermons  on  the  Song  of  Songs  to  a 
self- judgment,  which  not  infrequently  gains  the 
height  of  Pauline  and  Lutheran  faith  unto  salvation 
(" non  modi  Justus  sed  etbeatus,  cui  non  imputabit 
deus  peccatum").  But,  on  the  other  side,  he  also 
had  to  pay  the  tribute  of  all  mysticism,  not  only  in 
so  far  as  the  feeling  of  especial  exaltation  alternated 
with  that  of  abandonment,  but  also  in  his  not  being 
able  to  ward  off  a  pantheistic  tendency.  Like  Origen, 
Bernard  also  taught  that  it  was  necessary  to  rise 
from  the  Christ  in  the  flesh  to  the  Christ  xard 
Bernard     weD^a,  that  the  historical  is  a  step.     This  trait  has 

as  Prophet,  clung  to  all  mysticism  since  his  time;  mysticism  has 
learned  from  Bernard,  whom  men  reverenced  as  a 
prophet  and  apostle,  the  Christ-contemplation;  but 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      411 

at  the  same  time  it  has  adopted  his  pantheistic 
trend.  The  "  excedere  et  cum  Christo  esse"  means, 
that  in  the  arms  of  the  Bridegroom  the  soul  ceases 
to  be  an  individual  self.  But  where  the  soul  is  merged 
in  the  Divinity,  the  Divinity  is  dissolved  into  the 
All-in-One. 

Immeasurable  for  Christology  has  the  significance      Augus- 

OJ  °  tine's  View 

of  the  new  vision  of  Christ  been.  The  scheme  of  the  Perfected- 
two  natures  was  indeed  retained,  yet  there  was  in 
truth  by  the  side  of  the  sacramental  Christ  a  second 
Christ,  the  man  Jesus,  whose  sentiment,  sufferings, 
and  deeds  portrayed  and  propagated  Divine  life. 
He  is  prototype  and  power ;  his  death  sacrifice,  also, 
is  the  sacrifice  of  the  man,  in  whom  God  was.  Thus 
the  Augustinian  conception,  already  inaugurated  by 
Ambrose,  attained  here  its  perfection.     In  the  second  J^°7e>  sT^f- 

1  r  fering,  Hu- 

half  of  the  12th  century  this  new  piety  (love,  suffer-  millty- 
ing,  humility)  was  a  mighty  power  in  the  Church. 
But  as  Bernard  represented  in  himself  the  contrast 
between  the  world  of  pious  Christian  sentiment 
and  the  hierarchical  policy  of  the  world-dominat 
ing  Church,  so  also  most  believers,  naively  attached 
to  the  Church,  considered  the  ideals  of  worldly 
power  and  of  humility  reconcilable.  As  yet  the 
great  beggar  of  Assisi  had  not  stepped  forth,  whose 
appearance  was  destined  to  create  a  crisis  in  the  tur- 
bulence of  flight  from  the  world  and  dominion  over 
the  world;  still  at  the  end  of  the  12th  century  there 
already  hovered  about  the  Church  angry  curses  of 
"  heretics"  who  recognized  in  its  secular  rule  and  in 


412       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

the  sale  of  its  dispensations  of  grace  the  traits  of  the 
old  babel,  and  Bernard  himself  warned  the  popes. 


Pseudo- 
Isidorean 
Decretals. 


Clugny, 

Gregory 

Vll. 


2.  On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Law. 

V.  Schulte,  Gesch.  d.  Quellen  d.  Kirchenrechts  I.  u  II. 
Hiuschius,  Kathol.  Kirchenrecht.  Dentfle,  Univers.  d.  MA., 
1885.     Kaufmann,  Gesch.  d.  deutchen  Univ.  I. ,  1888. 

All  that  had  ever  been  claimed  by  popes  appeared 
gathered  together  in  the  great  falsification  of  Pseudo- 
Isidore  and  was  represented  as  ancient  papal  law:  The 
independence  of  the  Church  and  its  organs  as  regards 
the  laity,  and  the  papal  supremacy  over  the  bishops 
and  the  national  churches.  Upon  the  foundation  of 
Pseudo-Isidore  the  popes  of  later  times  built.  To 
them  it  was  not  a  question  of  theology,  but,  as  Ro- 
mans, of  the  perfection  of  the  law,  which  they  had 
obtained  for  themselves  as  a  Divine  law.  In  the 
contest  between  emperor  and  pope  the  question  was 
as  to  which  should  be  the  real  rector  of  the  state  of 
God,  and  as  to  whom  the  bishops  should  be  subject. 
The  reformed  papacy  was  developed  under  the  im- 
pulse of  Clugny  and  Gregory  VII.  into  an  autocratic 
power  in  the  Church  and  formulated  its  legislation 
accordingly  through  numberless  decretals,  after  hav- 
ing freed  itself  in  Rome  from  the  last  remnants  of 
older  constitutional  conditions.  Allied  with  the 
best  men  of  the  times  the  popes  of  the  12th  century, 
having  obtained  the  investiture,  began  to  design  a 
new  ecclesiastical  law.      The  decretals    took  their 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE    OF   SIN,  ETC.      413 

place  by  the  side  of  the  old  canons,  even  by  the  side 
of  the  decrees  of  the  old  councils.  Still,  strictly 
taken,  their  authority  as  yet  remained  uncertain. 

The  papacy  while  developing  into  a  jurisdictional  LawAiS? 
supreme  court  would  never  have  been  able  to  gain  gamated- 
the  monarchial  leadership  as  regards  faith  and  mor- 
als in  the  Church,  which  is  indeed  communion  of 
faith  and  cult,  had  not  in  this  period  the  amalgama- 
tion of  dogma  and  law  become  perfect.  In  Rome  it- 
self the  form  of  the  dogmatic  retreated  completely 
behind  that  of  the  law  (lex  dei),  and  the  Germano- 
Romance  nations  at  first  were  defenceless;  for  the 
Church  had  once  come  to  them  as  Roman  law  and 
order.      The  great  popes  were  monks  and  jurists.      Popes, 

°  L    c  J  Monks  and 

The  juristic-scientific  treatment  of  all  functions  of  Jurists- 
the  Church  became  the  highest  aim.  The  study  of 
law  exercised  an  immense  influence  upon  the 
thoughtful  contemplation  of  the  Church  in  all  its 
length  and  breadth.  That  which  formerly  had 
been  evolved  under  constraining  influences,  viz.,  the 
Church  as  a  legal  institute,  now  became  strength- 
ened or  developed  by  thought.  The  spirit  of  juris- 
prudence, which  spread  over  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
began  also  to  subordinate  to  itself  the  traditional 
dogmas.  Here  scholasticism  had  a  strong  root;  but  I^Ratio 
one  must  not  forget  that  since  Tertullian  the  Occi- 
dental dogmas  were  prepared  for  a  juristic  treatment, 
out  of  which  they  partly  originated.  Upon  aactor- 
itas  and  ratio  the  dialectics  of  the  jurists  is  founded. 
It  also  belongs  to  the  great  contrasts  of  the  Middle 


414        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Ages,— Bernardine  piety  and  Roman  juristic  think- 
ing. In  this  way  the  Church  was  to  become  a 
court  of  law,  a  merchant  house  and  a  robbers'  den. 
But  in  this  epoch  it  still  stood  at  the  beginning  of 
the  development. 


o. 


The  Revival  of  Science. 


Histories  of  Philosophy  by  Überweg,  Erdmann,  Stöckl. 
Gesch.  der  Logik  v.  Prantl,  Bd.  II. -IV.  Reuter  a.  a.  O. 
Nitzsch,  i.  d.  RE2.  XIII.  S.,  650  ff.  Denifle  a.  a.  O.  Kauf- 
mann, a.  a.  O.  Löwe,  Kampf  Zweischen  d.  Nominal,  u. 
Realism.  1876.     Deutsch,  P.  Abelard,  1883. 

schoiasti-       Scholasticism  was  the  science  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

cism.  ° 

In  it  there  were  strikingly  displayed  the  power  of  the 
thinking  faculties  and  an  energy  capable  of  reduc- 
ing everything  real  and  valuable  to  thought,  such 
as  perhaps  no  other  age  offers.  But  scholasticism  is 
in  truth  thinking  "from  the  very  centre  outward  ", 
for  while  the  scholastics  always  went  back  to  first 
principles,  these  were  not  gained  from  experience 
and  real  history,  though  in  the  course  of  the  develop- 
ment of  mediaeval  science  increasing  regard  was  paid 
Diaiec-     to  experience.     Auctoritas  and  ratio  (dialectical-de- 

tical- 

^lethod"6  furtive  method)  dominate  scholasticism,  which  dif- 
ered  from  the  old  theology,  in  that  the  authority  of 
the  dogma  and  the  practice  of  the  Church  were  more 
firmly  adjusted,  and  in  that  men  no  longer  lived  in 
the  philosophy  (the  antique)  which  went  with  it,  but 
added  the  same  from  without.  Its  principal  presup- 
position was  drawn— at  least  until  the  time  of  its 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF    SIN,  ETC.      415 

dissolution — from  the  thesis,  that  all  things  must  be 
understood  from  theology  and  that  therefore  also  all 
things  must  be  traced  back  to  theology.  This  thesis 
presupposes  that  the  thinker  himself  is  sensible  of 
his  full    dependence   upon   God.      Piety    therefore    Piety  the 

Presuppo- 

is  the  presupposition  of  mediaeval  science.     But  in    scholasti- 


cism. 


the  nature  of    the  mediaeval    piety   itself  lies  the 

foundation   for  that  contemplation   which  leads  to 

this  science ;   for  piety  is  the  advancing  knowledge 

obtained  by  constant  reflection  upon  the  relation  of 

the  soul  to  God.     Therefore  scholasticism,  since  it    scholasti- 
cism is 

deduces  all  things  from  God  and  again  comprises    „  Sel?~ 

°     J  u  ±  Conscious 

them  in  him,  is  piety  become  conscious  and  mani-  Piety* 
fest.  On  that  account  it  does  not  differ  in  its  root 
from  mysticism ;  the  difference  consists  only  herein, 
that  in  scholasticism  the  knowledge  of  the  world  in 
its  relation  to  God  gains  a  more  independent,  objec- 
tive interest  and  the  theological  doctrines  are,  if  pos- 
sible, to  be  proven ;  while  in  mysticism  the  reflective 
trend  of  the  process  of  knowledge  (for  the  increase 
of  one's  own  piety)  comes  out  more  strongly, 
In  the  former,  as  a  rule,  more  use  is  made  of  dia- 
lectics, in  the  latter  of  intuition  and  inward  experi- 

Theology 

ence.     But  the  theology  of  Thomas,  for  example,  can  of  Thomas 

is  Mystical. 

also  according  to  its  end  and  aim  unhesitatingly  be 
designated  as  mysticism  and,  vice  versa,  there  are 
theologians,  who  from  custom  are  called  mystics, 
but  who  in  the  strength  of  their  desire  to  know 
the  world  and  to  understand  correctly  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  do  not  lag  behind  the  so-called  scho- 


416        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Mysticism    lastics.     The  aim  not  only  is  the  same  (mysticism  is 

is  the 

sV-hoiasti*  the  practice  of  scholasticism),  but  the  means  are 
also  the  same  (the  authoritative  dogma  of  the  Church, 
spiritual  experience,  the  traditional  philosophy). 
The  difficulties  which  at  first  made  their  appearance 
in  mediaeval  science  were  therefore  removed,  after 
men  had  learned  the  art  of  subordinating  the  dia- 
lectic method  to  the  traditional  dogma  and  to  the 
thirst  for  piety. 

tlnceof  The  Middle  Ages  received  from  the  old  Church 
theAgesd(iIe  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  essentially  completed  dogma, 
the  theology  which  led  to  this  dogma,  and  a  treasure 
of  classical  literature  loosely  connected  with  this 
theology  and  the  philosophico-methodical  doctrines. 
With  these  additions  to  the  dogma  elements  were 
transmitted,  which  were  hostile  to  the  dogma,  or  at 
least   threatened  to  become  so  (Neo-Platonism  and 

John  of     Aristotelianism).    In  the  theology  of  John  of  Damas- 

Damascus.  '  °*7 

cus  the  attempt  was  made  to  reconcile  scientifically 
everything  that  was  contradictory,  but  the  Occident 
could  not  thereby  be  spared  the  work  of  adjustment. 
During  the  Carlovingian  age  the  strength  of  the  Oc- 
cident was  still  too  weak  to  work  independently  upon 
the  capital  it  had  inherited.  A  few  theologians 
made  themselves  at  home  with  Augustine,  still  this 
undertaking  was  already  followed,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  a  partial  crisis, — others  clothed  themselves  in  the 
foreign  garment  of  the  classical  authors;  in  the 
B°andius  scno°ls  ^ney  learned  from  the  writings  of  Boethius  and 
Isidore.      Isidore  the  rudiments  of  the  dialectical  method  and  a 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,    ETC.      417 

mild  use  of  the  ratio.     No  theologian  except  Scotus      scotus 

°  r  Engena. 

Erigena  was  independent.  As  soon  as  they  became 
more  self-conscious,  they  rejected  the  knowledge  of 
nature,  the  devil's  mistress,  and  antiquity.  Indeed 
as  a  formal  means  of  culture  they  could  not  do  with- 
out these,  and  dialecticism,  that  is,  that  method 
which  first  exposes  contradictions  in  order  to  recon- 
cile them,  made  an  increasing  impression.  From 
the  Carlovingian  age  there  runs  through  the  learned 
schools  a  chain  of  scientific  tradition  as  far  down  as 
into  the  11th  century.  But  Gerbertof  Rheims  did  ofG||^s 
not  as  yet  bring  it  to  an  epochal  climax ;  the  theo- 
logical dialecticians  did  so  first  after  the  middle  of 
that  century.  Already  at  that  time  the  principal 
philosophico- theological  question  of  the  future  was 
considered,  viz.  whether  the  conceptions  of  species 
exist  respecting  things  or  within  things,  or  whether 
the  same  are  merely  abstractions  (Boethius  in  Por- 
phyry, realism  and  nominalism).  The  ecclesiastical 
instinct  of  self-preservation  turned  toward  realism, 
which  mysticism  demanded.  When  Roscellin  in  Rosceiiin. 
consequence  of  his  nominalism  arrived  at  the  con- 
sequent tritheism,  both  he  and  his  way  of  thinking 
were  rejected  as  heretical  (1092).  In  the  11th  cen- 
tury the  dialecticians  were  viewed  with  great  dis- 
trust. Indeed  they  frequently  not  only  attacked  the 
coarse  superstition  in  religion  and  the  barbarian  way 
of  thinking,  but  they  also  jeopardized  orthodoxy,  or 
rather  what  was  thought  to  be  orthodoxy.     But  "  en- 

lighteners"  they  were  not.     Looking  at  them  more 

27 


418        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

closely,  even  the  boldest  of  them  stood  upon  the  basis 

of  the  Church,  or,   at  any  rate,  were  bound  to  the 

Bci< ■"■;■■     same  by  a  hundred  ties.     True,  every  science,  even 

Offends  J 

the  most  trammelled,  will  always  find  within  itself 
an  element  offensive  to  that  faith  which  longs  for 
peace;  it  will  display  a  freshness  and  joyfulness, 
which  to  devotion  will  appear  like  boldness ;  it  will 
never  be  able,  even  when  it  agrees  with  the  Church 
in  end  and  aim,  to  disclaim  a  negative  tendency,  be- 
cause it  will  always  rightly  find,  that  the  principles 
of  the  Church  in  the  concrete  expression  of  life  have 
deteriorated  and  have  been  marred  by  superstition 
and.  inclination.  Thus  was  it  also  at  that  time;  but 
as  the  revival  of  science  was  a  consequence  of  the 
revival  of  the  Church,  so  the  Church  also  finally 
recognized  in  theology  its  own  life. 
Revival  of       By  the  elevation  of  science  three  results  were  ob- 

Science;  J 

insults,  tained:  (1)  A  deeper  insight  into  the  Neo-Platonic- 
Augustinian  principles  of  theology  as  a  whole,  (2) 
A  higher  virtuosity  in  the  art  of  dialectical  analysis 
and  rational  demonstration,  (3)  An  increasing  occu- 
pation with  the  Church  fathers  and  the  ancient 
philosophers.  The  danger  of  this  deeper  insight 
was  a  non-cosmicomystical  pantheism,  and  the  more 
naively   men  devoted    themselves    to    realism,   the 

Dangers,  greater  was  the  danger.  The  danger  of  dialecticism 
consisted  in  the  dissolution  of  the  dogma  instead  of 
the  proof  of  them ;  the  danger  of  the  intercourse  with 
the  ancient  philosophers  lay  in  the  reduction  of  his- 
torical Christianity  to  cosmopolitanism,  to  a   mere 


Willi,  von 
Cham- 
peaux. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      419 

general  philosophy  of  religion  upon  the  soil  of  the 
neutralized  history.  Till  the  end  of  the  12th  century 
there  was  as  yet  no  real  philosophy  alongside  of  theo- 
logy; in  so  far  as  anything  of  the  kind  existed,  it 
was  feared,  and  thus  it  happened  that  the  danger  al- 
luded to  under  "  (2)"  (Berengar  and  his  friends)  was 
first  felt.  The  danger  alluded  to  under  "(1)"  was 
the  least  noticed,  since  Anselm,  the  greatest  theo- 
logian before  Thomas,  whose  orthodoxy  was  above 
question,  moved  about  most  unconcernedly  among 
the  Neo-Platonic-Augistinian  principles.  Perhaps 
he  would  have  soon  brought  the  dialectical  science, 
which  he  knew  how  to  use  with  authority,  to  full 
honors,  and  have  made  credible  the  reconcilableness 
of  mysticism  (meditatio)  with  reason,  of  authorita- 
tive faith  with  ratio  {credo,  ut  intelligam,  on  the 
one  side,  rationabili  necessitate  intelligere  esse 
oportere  omnia  ilia,  quae  nobis  fides  catholica  de 
Christo  credere  praecipit,  on  the  other  side),  had 
not  some  of  his  pupils,  like  Willi,  von  Champeaux, 
drawn  some  of  the  dangerous  consequences  of  Pla- 
tonic realism  (the  one  passive  substance,  the  natural 
phenomena  as  mere  semblance) ,  and  had  not  in 
Abelard  a  bold  scientific  talent  appeared,  which  could 
not  but  terrify  the  churchmen.  In  Abelard  the  trait  Abelard. 
of  the  "  enlightener"  is  not  entirely  wanting ;  but  he 
was  more  bold  than  consequential,  and  his  "ration- 
alism" had  its  limitations  in  the  acknowledgment  of 
revelation.  Nevertheless  he  opposed  faith  in  mere 
authority,  yet  by  no  means  at  all  points ;  he  wanted 


420       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

to  know  what  he  believed,  and  he  wanted  to  show 
how  unsafe  and  contradictory  was  the  uncontrolled 
orthodoxy  and  the  tradition  which  pretended  to 
sicetNon.  be  infallible  {"Sic  et  Nonv).  Thus  he  looked 
upon  the  foundations  of  faith  just  as  he  looked  upon 
the  theological  points  represented  in  the  dogma.  His 
opponents,  above  all  Bernard,  considered  his  doctrine 
of  the  trinity  and  the  whole  method  of  his  science 
(which  indeed  with  him  and  his  pupils  often  degen- 
erated into  a  formalistic  art  of  disputation  and  was 
coupled  with  unbearable  arrogance)  foreign  and 
heretical;  they  therefore  condemned  him.  They  did 
not  at  all  observe  that  the  questionable  sentences  of 
the  bold  innovator  originated  in  part  from  the  Church 
fathers  and  in  part  were  the  consequences  of  that  mys- 
tical doctrine  of  God,  which  they  themselves  shared 
(thus  his  conception  of  history,  which  seems  to  neu- 
tralize historical  Christianity  in  favor  of  Greek  phil- 
osophy ;  compare  Justin) .  It  is  still  more  paradoxical 
that  Abelard,  even  while  on  the  one  side  drawing 
these  consequences,  on  the  other  introduced  a  kind  of 
"  conceptualism"  in  the  place  of  realism,  granted  to 
sober  thought  a  material  influence  upon  the  contem- 
plation of  fundamental  principles,  rejected  the  pan- 
theistic deductions  of  the  current  orthodoxy  and  thus 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  classical  expression  of 
EcTicaias"  medi<zval  conservative  theology.  The  ecclesiastical 
"nulnded6'  dogma  demanded  realism,  but  was  not  able  to  be  re- 
tained in  thought  under  the  complete  dominion  of 
the  mystical,  Neo-Platonic  theology.     A  lowering  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      421 

the  Platonic  celestial  flight  was  needed,  therefore  of 
"  Aristotelism",  as  the  latter  was  understood  and 
used  at  that  time,  namely,  that  view  of  things  ac- 
cording to  which  whatever  appears  and  is  creature- 
like is  not  the  transitory  form  of  the  Divine,  but  the 
supernatural  God  as  creator  has,  in  the  real  sense  of 
the  word,  called  forth  the  creature  and  endowed  the 
same  with  independence.  With  this  view  Abelard 
began  anew,  and  much  of  that  which  at  his  time  pro- 
voked opposition  afterward  became  orthodox.  Yet  it  A^}^s 
was  his  own  fault,  the  fault  of  his  character,  the  want 
of  clearness  in  the  positions  which  he  assumed,  and 
the  fault  of  his  many  heterodoxies,  that  he  did  not 
break  through.  With  Bernard  and  the  mystics  he 
brought  science  into  such  discredit  that  the  next  gen- 
eration of  theologians  had  a  difficult  footing.  The 
"  sentences"  of  Peter  Lombard,  which  with  a  certain  jj^^nj 
scientific  freedom  gather  together  the  patristic  tradi- 
tion, opinion  and  contrary  opinion,  and  which  give 
a  judicious  review  of  doctrine  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Church,  came  near  being  condemned  (1164,  1179). 
Walther  of  St.  Victor  zealously  opposed  him  and 
Abelard  as  well.  But  the  task  of  theology,  to  fur- 
nish a  review  of  the  whole  territory  of  dogmatics  and 
to  think  everything  out,  once  undertaken,  could  no 
longer  be  put  aside,  and  in  the  carrying  out  of  this 
task  the  followers  of  Abelard  and  of  Bernard  drew 
nearer  to  each  other.  Moreover,  the  intercourse 
with  Jews  and  Mohammedans  demanded  an  intel- 
ligent   apologetics.      Hugo    St.    Victor,     however,      viltor1' 


422       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

who  had  already  influenced  the  followers  of  Lom- 
bard, contributed  most  toward  uniting  the  tenden- 
New  Piety  cjes<  The  new  piety,  even  with  its  latest  require- 
ments, exercises,  and  means  of  devotion,  died  out 
gradually,  though  not  entirely,  during  the  second 
half  of  the  12th  century,  together  with  the  dialectical 
science.  Yonder  implicit  faith,  here  boldness  were 
rejected,  with  which,  however,  many  a  fresh  truth 
was  lost.  This  occurred  under  the  overwhelming  im- 
pressions made  by  the  Church,  radiant  in  its  victor- 
ies. Her  law  in  life  and  doctrine  became  the  most 
worthy  object  of  investigation  and  exposition.  With 
this  aim  was  blended  another — that  of  referring  all 
things  back  to  God,  and  of  construing  knowledge  of 
Patristi-  the  world  as  theology.  However,  it  was  only  in  the 
sialism,  course  0f  the  13th  century  that  patristi cism,  ecclesi- 
asticism,  mystic  theology  and  Aristotelianism  be- 
came consolidated  into  powerful  systems.  The  dog- 
matical works  of  the  12th  century — except,  perhaps, 
the  works  of  Hugo — still  bear  the  stamp  of  aggrega- 
tion. Thought,  if  it  wished  to  be  more  than  repro- 
duction and  meditation,  was  still  looked  upon  with 
suspicion. 

4.   Work  upon  the  Dogma. 

BeanncPr        Aniong  the  number  of  theological  disputes   and 

Anseiui.     separate  condemnations,  the  controversy  with  Ber- 

engar  concerning  the  eucharist  and  Anselm's  new 

conception   of  the  doctrine  of  atonement  acquired 

prominence.      These  alone  mark  a  progress  in  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OP   SIN,  ETC.      423 

history  of  dogma,   which   during  this  period   was 
otherwise  not  enriched. 

A.  The  Berengar  Controversy. 

Bach,  a.  a.  O.  I.  Reuter  a.  a.  O.  Sudendorf,  Berengarius, 
1850.  Schwabe,  Stud.  z.  Gesch,  d.  2.  Abendmahlsstreits, 
1887.     Schnitzler,  B.  v.  Tours,  1890. 

The  second  controversy  regarding  the  eucharist  Eucharist 
has,  aside  from  the  theological,  also  a  philosophical  versy- 
and  ecclesiastico-political  interest.  The  latter  may 
rest  here.  Berengar,  a  pupil  of  Fulbert  of  Chartres, 
was  the  first  dialectician,  who,  full  of  confidence  in 
the  art  which  he  thought  to  be  identical  with  reason, 
turned  against  an  ecclesiastical  superstition  which 
had  very  nearly  become  a  dogma.  A  criticism  of 
the  dogma  of  the  eucharist,  however,  was,  in  consid- 
eration of  the  prominent  standing  of  this  doctrine,  a 
criticism  of  the  ruling  ecclesiastical  doctrine  in  gen- 
eral. Not  as  a  negative  "enlightener",  but  to  op- 
pose a  bad  custom  by  true  tradition,  and  at  the  same 
time  also  to  let  his  light  shine,  Berengar  wrote  (sum-  Be25Jfar 
ming  up  in  the  work,  de  sacra  coena  adv.  Lanfran-  Lanfranc- 
cum,  1073)  and  founded  a  school.  He  saw  in  the 
ruling  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  a  want  of  rea- 
son, and  he  revived  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  the 
eucharist  (like  Ratramnus,  whose  book,  however,  was 
considered  as  belonging  to  Scotus  Erigen  a,  and  as  such 
was  condemned  at  Vercelli,  1050) ,  in  order  to  restore 
the  Xoyixrj  Xarpeia  and  to  combat  the  barbarous  passion 
for  mysteries.    Berengar  opened  the  controversy  with 


424       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Con- 
demned. 


a  letter  to  Lanfranc  and  showed  that  the  acceptance 
of  a  bodily  transubstantiation  was  absurd  and  that 
therefore  the  words  of  Christ  must  be  understood 
figuratively.     A  purely  symbolic  conception  he  did 

Signum  et  not  teach,  rather  like  the  fathers,  Signum  et  sacra- 
mentum.  m  cut  am,  in  the  sacred  act :  Some  holy  but  invisible 
element  is  added  by  the  "  coiiversio" ,  which  means 
however  the  ivhole  Christ;  bread  and  wine  are  only 
relatively  changed.  He  taught  that  the  opposite 
doctrine  strives  against  reason,  wherein  the  Divine 
image  lies  enclosed ;  he  who  favors  "  ineptia"  casts 

BDoGc°mireS  aside  the  Divine  part.  Berengar's  doctrine  was  con- 
demned at  Rome  and  Vercelli  (1050)  during  his  ab- 
sence; he  himself  was  forced  to  recant  at  Rome 
(1059)  and  he  condescended  to  sign  a  confession, 
composed  by  Cardinal  Humbert,  which  showed  that 
Berengar  had  not  exaggerated  the  ruling  doctrine ;  for 
in  the  confession  it  was  stated,  that  the  elements 
after  the  consecration  are  not  only  sacrament,  but 
the  very  hodj  of  Christ  (sensualiter,  non  solum 
sacra7ne7ito),  which  then  is  also  masticated  by 
the  teeth  of  the  believers.  Berengar,  protected  in 
the  following  years  by  influential  Roman  friends 
(Hildebrand),  restrained  himself  for  some  time,  but 
afterward  began  anew  the  literary  controversy. 
Now  the  principal  writings  were  first  issued  (Lan- 
franc, de  co7*p.  et  sang,  domini  adv.  B.c.  1069). 
Gregory  VII.  was  in  no  haste  to  make  heretics;  yet 
in  order  not  to  prejudice  his  own  authority,  he  fin- 
ally forced  Berengar  for  the  second  time  to  submit. 


Contro- 
versy Re- 
newal. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      425 

The  learned  scholar  was  broken  down  and  his  cause 
perished.  Paschasius'  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
was  further  developed  by  the  opponents  of  Berengar 
(manducatio  infidelium;  coarse  realism) ;  still 
even  in  these  circles  one  commenced  to  apply  "  sci- 
ence" to  the  dogma  in  the  interest  of  the  Church. 
The  coarse  representations  were  disregarded,  the  en- 
tire Christ  (not  simply  bloody  pieces  of  his  body)  was 
acknowledged  in  the  act  (in  every  particular) ,  the  dif- 
ference between  Signum  and  sacramentum  was  taken 
into  account  in  order  to  distinguish  between  man- 
datio  infidelium  and  fideUum  (especially  important 
is  Guitmund  of  Aversa,  de  corp.  et  sang.  Christi    Guitmund 

of   Aversa. 

veritate  in  eucharistia) .  The  "  scientific"  concep- 
tions also  concerning  substance  and  attributes  were 
already  set  forth,  whereby  the  coarse  "  sensualiter" 
corrected  itself,  while  a  few,  it  is  true,  believed  in 
an  incorruptibility  of  the  attributes  of  the  converted 
substances.  Furthermore  there  were  already  begin- 
nings of  the  speculation  about  the  ubiquity  of  the 
substance  of  the  body  of  Christ.  The  expression 
"  trayissubstantiatio"  can  be  traced  first  to  Hildebert    Hildebert 

of  Tours; 

of   Tours   (beginning  of  the  12th  century) ;   as  the     Transub- 


stanti- 
ation. 


final  argument  there  remained  always  the  almightj^ 
sovereign  will  of  God.  As  a  dogma  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation  was  expressed  in  the  new  confes- 
sion of  faith  at  the  Lateran  council  (1215),  which 
prior  to  the  professio  fidei  Trident,  was,  next  to  the  Doctrine  of 

x        J  J  '  Eucharist 

Nicene,  the  most  influential  symbol.     The  doctrine  of    ^nnfty0 
the  eucharist  was  here  joined  directly  to  the  trinity  antoiogy.ls 


Middle 

Ages. 


426       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OP  DOGMA. 

and  to  Christology.  Therewith  was  also  expressed 
in  the  symbol  that  the  same  is  one  with  these  doc- 
trines, and  indeed  in  the  form  of  the  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation  ("  transsubstantiatis  pane  et  vino") 
and  with  strict  hierarchical  trend.  Joined  thereto 
was  a  statement  regarding  baptism  and  penance 
("per  veram  poenitentiam  semper  protest  repa- 
rari").  Therewith  indeed  this  development  ended, 
and  with  it  the  allied  one,  that  every  Christian  must 
Boldest  confess  his  sins  before  the  parochus  (c.  21).  The 
innovation  in  the  symbol  (combination  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  eucharist  with  the  trinity  and  Christol- 
ogy) is  the  most  peculiar  and  the  boldest  act  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  having  much  greater  weight  than  the 
"filioque".  On  the  other  side,  however,  the  new 
symbol  shows  still  very  plainly  that  only  the  old 
dogma  were  truly  dogma,  and  not  the  Augustinian 
sentences  concerning  sin,  hereditary  sin,  grace,  etc. 
Catholic  Christianity  is  constituted,  aside  from  the 
old  Church  dogmas,  by  the  doctrines  of  the  three 
sacraments  (baptism,  penance  and  the  eucharist). 
The  rest  are  dogma  of  the  second  order,  that  means, 
no  dogma  at  all.  This  condition  was  for  the  future 
(till  the  Reformation)  of  the  greatest  importance. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      427 

B.  Anselm's  Doctrine  of  Satisfaction  and  the 
Doctrines  of  Atonement  of  the  Theologians  of 
the  12th  Century. 

Gesch.  d.  Versöhnungslehre  v.  Baur  u.  Ritschi.  Hasse, 
Ansehn,  2  Bde.,  1852  f.  Cremer,  i.  d.  Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1880  S. 
7  ff. 

Anselm  in  his  work  "  Cur  deus  homo  "  attempted  cu^ieus 
to  prove  the  strict  necessity  (reasonableness)  of  the 
death  of  a  God-man  for  the  redemption  of  sinful 
humanity  (even  in  Augustine  are  found  doubts  of 
this  necessity),  and  thereby  raised  the  fundamental 
principle  of  the  practice  of  penance  (satisfactio 
congrua)  to  the  standard  of  religion  in  general. 
Herein  consists  his  epochal  importance.     His  pre-    His  Pre- 

supposi- 

supposition   is  that   sin  is  guilt,  and  indeed  guilt       tion- 
against  God,  that  the  blotting  out  of  this  guilt  is 
the  main  point  in  the  ivork  of  Christ,  that  the  cross 
of  Christ  is  the  redemption,  and  that  therefore  the 
grace  of  God  is  nothing  else  than  the  work  of  Christ 
(Augustine  here  still  manifested  uncertainty).     In 
these  momentous  thoughts  lies  the  evangelical  truth 
of  Anselm 's  deductions.     Yet  they  suffer  from  grave  Grave  im- 
imperf ections ;  for  since  they  take  into  consideration      tions. 
only  the  "  objective",  they  do  not  contain  the  proof  of 
the  reality  of   redemption,  but  primarily  only  the 
proof  of  its  conditions  (they  contain  no  doctrine  of 
atonement).     Furthermore  they  are  based  upon  a 
contradictory  view  of  the  honor  of  God,  they  place 
the  Divine  attributes  at  an  intolerable  variance,  they 


428        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

make  God  appear  not  as  the  Master  and  as  almighty 
Love,  but  as  a  powerful  private  citizen  who  is  man's 
partner,  they  misconceive  the  inviolableness  of  the 
sacred  moral  law  and  therefore  the  suffering  of  pun- 
ishment, and  finally  they  allow  mankind  to  be  re- 
deemed by  human  sacrifice  (!)  without  making  it 
plain  how  in  man  himself  a  change  of  heart  is  to  be 
brought  about.  The  great  Augustinian  and  dialecti- 
He  Did  Not  cian  Anselm  really  did  not  know  what  faith  is,  and 
what.  Faith  jie  therefore  fancied  himself  able  to  formulate  a  doc- 
trine of  redemption  in  strictly  necessary  categories 
(for  the  conversion  of  Jews  and  heathen),  without 
troubling  himself  about  the  establishing  of  religion 
in  the  heart,  that  is,  about  the  awakening  of  faith. 
That,  however,  means  a  purposing  to  treat  religion 
without  religion ;  for  the  creating  of  faith  is  religion, 
problem  ^he  °^  splitting  of  the  problem  into  "  objective"  re- 
jectee"" demption  and  "subjective"  adoption  had  its  effect 
jective."  here  also,  even  more  than  formerly;  for  Anselm 
grappled  with  the  principal  problem  energetically. 
So  much  the  worse  were  the  consequences,  which  pre- 
vail to  this  day ;  for  if  the  problem  must  be  divided 
into  the  "  objective"  (dramatic  management  of  God) 
and  the  "  subjective",  then  has  God  even  in  Chris- 
tianity proved  by  the  death  of  Christ  only  a  general 
possibility  of  the  true  religion;  the  religion  itself, 
however,  every  individual  must  procure  for  himself, 
be  it  alone  or  by  means  of  numerous  little  assistants 
and  expedients  (the  Church).  He  who  shares  this 
view   thinks  Catholicly,  even  if  he  calls  himself  a 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.       429 

Lutheran  Christian.     Anselm  in  the  most  impor-    ^^\n 
tant  problem,  which  it  was  his  merit  to  place  at  Doctrine  of 
the  head,  first  brought  to  full  view  the  false  Cath-    Religion. 
olic  idea  of  God  and  the  false  old  Catholic  con- 
ception of  religion  which  had  long  since  found 
expression  in  the  practice  of  penance.     In  this 
sense  he  is  a  co-founder  of  the  Catholic   Church, 
although  his  theory  in  detail  has  in  many  respects 
been  abandoned — in  favor  of  a  still  more  convenient 
practice  of  the  Church.     Anselm  in  different  writings 
("  Monologium" ,  "Prologium" — concerning  the  con- 
ception of  God;  ontological  proof)  gave  expression 
to  the  conviction,  that  one  should  believe  first  upon 
authority,  and  then  one  would  be  able  to  prove  faith 
to  be  a  necessity  of  thought.     However,  only  in  the 
dialogically   composed  writing   "  Cur  deus   homo" 
has  he  comprised  the  whole  of  the  Christian  religion 
under  one  head  and  treated  it  uniformly  and  logi- 
cally.    After    a  very  remarkable    introduction,   in    Through 
which  especially  the  old  idea  about  redemption  as  a  God  of  his 

L  J  r  Honor. 

satisfaction  of  the  lawful  claims  of  the  devil  is  re- 
flected, he  lays  down  the  principle  that  the  creature, 
endowed  with  reason,  has  through  sin  robbed  God 
of  the  honor  due  to  him  in  no  longer  rendering  to 
him  that  which  this  honor  demands,  namely,  obedi- 
ent subjection.  Since  God  cannot  lose  his  honor,  and 
since  freedom  from  punishment  would  besides  bring 
about  a  general  disorder  in  the  kingdom  of  God, 
either  restitution  (satisfactio) ,  or  punishment  is  the  Restitution 

or  Punish- 
Only   thing   possible.     The   latter    indeed    in    itself      ment, 


430       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Guilt  of 

Sin 
Infinite. 


God-Man 

Alone 
Sufficient. 


Acceptio 

Mortis 

Infinite 

Good  to 

God! 


would  be  suitable,  but  since  it  could  result  only  in 
destruction  and  thus  in  the  ruin  of  one  of  the  most 
precious  works  of  God  (the  rationabilis  creatura), 
the  honor  of  God  does  not  permit  it.  Therefore  the 
satisf actio  alone  remains,  which  must  be  a  restitution 
as  well  as  the  price  of  punishment.  Man,  however, 
cannot  render  it ;  for  everything  that  he  could  give 
to  God,  he  would  be  compelled  from  duty  to  give  to 
him;  moreover  the  guilt  of  sin  is  infinitely  great, 
since  already  the  slightest  disobedience  results  in 
endless  sin  ("  nondum  considerasti  quanti  ponderis 
sit  peccatum").  How  then  shall  man  restore 
"  totum  quod  deo  abstulit",  "  ut  sicut  deusper  ilium 
perdidit,  ita  per  ilium  recuperet"'?  This  the  God- 
man  alone  is  able  to  do,  for  only  God  can  offer  "de 
suo,  quod  majus  est  quam  omne  quod  praeter  deum 
est",  and  the  man  must  bring  it.  Therefore  a  per- 
sonality is  required  who  has  two  natures  and  who  of 
his  own  free  ivill  can  and  does  offer  to  God  his 
Divine-human  life  (sinlessness) .  It  must  be  his  life, 
for  that  alone  he  is  not  in  duty  bound  to  sacrifice  to 
God ;  everything  else  he  also,  the  sinless  one,  is  bound 
to  give  up.  But  in  this  sacrifice  full  satisfaction  is 
rendered  (" nullatenus  seipsum  potest  homo  magis 
dare  deo,  quam  cum  se  morti  tradit  ad  honorem 
illius"),  indeed  its  value  is  infinite.  While  the  least 
injury  of  this  life  has  an  infinite  negative  value,  the 
free  surrender  of  it  has  an  infinite  positive  value. 
The  acceptio  mortis  of  such  a  God-man  is  an  infinite 
good  to  God  (!),  which  far  exceeds  his  loss  through 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      431 

sin.  Christ  has  done  all  this ;  his  voluntary  death 
can  have  resulted  only  "  in  honorem  dei",  for 
another  purpose  cannot  be  discovered.  For  us  this 
death  has  a  three-fold  result :  (1)  The  hitherto  crush-  dSS}8^ 
ing  guilt  of  sin  has  been  removed,  (2)  We  can  take  T1Resui°t!d 
to  ourselves  heartily  the  example  of  this  voluntary 
death,  and,  (3)  God,  in  acknowledging  the  rendering 
of  the  satisfactio  as  a  meritum  also  of  the  God- 
man,  gives  us  the  benefit  of  this  meritum,  since  he 
can  indeed  give  nothing  to  Christ.  Only  by  reason 
of  this  benefit  are  we  able  to  become  imitators  of 
Christ.  This  last  turn  is  a  genial  attempt  of 
Anselm's  to  transmit  into  the  hearts  of  men  the 
power  of  the  dramatic  scheme  of  redemption ;  but  he 
suffers  from  a  want  of  clearness  which  then  prevailed 
in  the  practice  of  penance.  In  themselves  satis-  satisfac- 
f actio  and  meritum  are  irreconcilable,  for  one  and  viewS? 
the  same  action  can  be  only  the  one  or  the  other  (the 
latter,  if  there  was  no  occasion  for  an  action  greater 
than  was  obligatory) .  But  from  the  practice  of  pen- 
ance one  was  accustomed  to  see  "  merits"  in  actions 
in  excess  of  duty,  even  if  they  served  as  compen- 
sation. Thus  did  Anselm  also  jolaced  the  satis- 
factio Christi  under  the  point  of  view  of  merit, 
which  continues,  even  after  the  conclusion  of  the  real 
transaction,  to  pacify  and  appease  God.  Anselm 
could  do  this  so  much  the  easier,  since  he  considered 
the  service  of  Christ  far  greater  than  the  weight  of 
sin.  But  he  joined  to  the  thought  of  meritum, 
though  leather  by  intimation,  the  subjective  effect  of 


as 
Merit. 


432       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Abelard 
[gnored 

Ansel  id's 
Satisfac- 
tion 
Theory. 


the  action ;  in  the  framing  of  the  conception  of  sat- 
is/actio  he  did  not  find  a  point  where  he  could  pass 
over  to  the  "subjective".  Nevertheless,  he  ended 
with  the  strong  consciousness  of  having  reasonably 
proved  "per  unius  quaestionis  solutionem  quicquid 
in  novo  veterique  testamento  continetur". 

Anselm's  satisfaction  theory  in  subsequent  times 
was  accepted  only  with  modifications.  Abelard  made 
no  use  of  it,  but  went  back,  whenever  he  treated  of 
redemption  through  Christ  (Comm.  on  Romans),  to 
the  New  Testament  and  patristic  tradition,  bringing 
into  prominence  the  important  thought  that  we  must 
be  led  back  to  God  (no  change  in  God's  attitude  is 
necessary).  Primarily  he  refers  redemption  to  the 
elect  and  therefore  teaches  that  the  death  of  the  God- 
man  must  be  conceived  only  as  an  act  of  love,  which 
inflames  our  cold  hearts ;  however  he  also  gives  the 
matter  the  turn,  that  the  merit  of  Christ  as  head 
of  the  community  benefits  its  members;  this  merit 
however  is  no  aggregation  of  certain  good  deeds,  but 
the  fulness  of  the  love  of  God  dwelling  in  Christ. 
Christ's  merit  is  the  merit  of  his  love  which  con- 
tinues in  constant  intercession ;  the  atonement  is  the 
personal  communion  with  Christ.  Of  the  claims  of 
Claims  of  t'he  devil  on  us>  Abelard  would  also  recognize  none, 
and,  together  with  the  idea  of  the  necessity  of  a 
bloody  sacrifice  to  appease  God,  he  repudiated  the  idea 
of  the  logical  necessity  of  the  death  on  the  cross. 
The  righteousness  of  the  idea  of  the  suffering  of  pun- 
ishment remained  hidden  to  him  as  well  as  to  Anselm. 


the  Devil. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      433 


Bernard's  thoughts  concerning  the  atonement  lag 
behind  those  for  Abelard ;  still  he  knew  how  to  ex- 
press his  love  for  Christ  more  edify ingly  than  the 
latter.  The  conception  of  the  merit  of  Christ  (ac- 
cording to  Anselm)  became  in  after-times  the  de- 
cisive one.  Whenever  men  meditated  about  the 
satisfaction  the  strict  categories  of  Anselm  were 
loosened  at  many  points.  Indeed  even  in  the  disci- 
pline of  penance  all  necessity  and  "quantity"  was 
uncertain !  Moreover  the  Lombard  contented  himself 
with  recounting  all  the  possible  views  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  one  can  look  at  the  death  of 
Christ,  even  that  of  the  purchasing  of  the  devil, 
together  with  the  deception,  and  of  the  value  of  pun- 
ishment, but  not  of  the  doctrine  of  satisfaction,  be- 
cause it  has  no  tradition  in  its  favor.  At  the  bottom, 
however,  he  was  a  follower  of  Abelard  (merit,  awak- 
ening of  reciprocal  love) .  After  him  the  haggling 
and  bargaining  began  about  the  value  of  sin  and  the 
value  of  the  merit  of  Christ. 


Bernard 

Less 

Advanced. 


Peter 
Lombard 
Recounts 

All 
Theories. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HISTORY  OF  DOGMA  IN  THE  TIME  OF  THE  MEN- 
DICANT ORDERS  TILL  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
16TH   CENTURY. 


The  conditions  under  which  dogma  was  placed 
during  this  period  made  it  as  a  system  of  lata  more 
and  more  stable — for  which  reason  also  the  Reforma- 
tion halted  before  the  old  dogma — but  caused  more 

28 


434      OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

and  more  an  inner  dissolution,  since  it  no  longer 
satisfied  the  individual  piety,  or  held  its  ground  in 
the  presence  of  the  new  knowledge. 


st. 

Francis : 
Humility, 

Love, 
Obedience. 


Classical 

Expression 

Of  Catholic 

Piety. 


A  Call  to 
Repent- 
ance. 


1.  On  the  History  of  Piety. 

Hase,  Franciskus,  1856.  Müller,  Anfänge  des  Minoriten- 
ordens,  1885.  Thode,  Franciskus,  1885.  Müller,  die  Wal- 
denser,  1886.  In  addition  the  works  on  the  Joachimites, 
Spiritualists,  German  Mystics  (Preger) ,  Unitas  Fratres,  Hus- 
sites and  heretics  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Döllinger,  Beitr.  z. 
Sectengesch.  d.  MA.,  1890.  Archiv,  f.  Litt.  u.  K. -Gesch. 
des  M.  A.  1  ff  (especially  the  works  of  Denifle) . 

The  Bernardine  piety  of  immersing  oneself  en- 
tirely in  the  sufferings  of  Christ  was  developed  by 
St.  Francis  into  a  piety  of  the  imitation  of  Christ  in 
"  humilitate,  caritate,  obediential.  Humilitas  is 
complete  poverty,  and  in  the  form  in  which  he 
represented  it  by  his  life  and  joined  it  with  an  ex- 
ceeding love  for  Christ,  Francis  held  before  men  an 
inexhaustibly  rich  and  high  ideal  of  Christianity,  ca- 
pable of  the  most  widely  different  individual  phases, 
and  breaking  its  way  through,  because  first  in 
it  did  Catholic  piety  receive  its  classical  expres- 
sion. Francis  was  at  the  same  time  animated  by  a 
truly  apostolic  missionary  spirit  and  a  most  fervent 
zeal  to  enkindle  men's  hearts  and  to  serve  Christian- 
ity in  love.  His  preaching  was  aimed  at  the  indi- 
vidual soul  and  at  the  restoration  of  apostolic  life. 
In  wider  circles  it  was  to  work  as  a  thrilling  peni- 
tential sermon,  and  with  this  in  view  Francis  re- 
ferred believers  to  the  Church,  whose  most  faithful 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      435 

son  he  was,  although  her  bishops  and  priests  did  not 
serve,  but  ruled.  This  contradiction  he  overlooked, 
but  others  who  had  preceded  him  did  not  (Walden- 
sians,  humiliates),  and  in  their  endeavor  to  restore 
apostolic  life  they  suspected  the  ruling  Church  and 
withdrew  from  it.  The  mendicant  orders  have  the  Mendicant 
merit  of  having  kept  a  great  stream  of  awakened  and 
active  Christian  life  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
Church ;  not  a  little  of  its  waters  already  flowed  out- 
side, took  a  hostile  direction,  stirred  up  anew  the  old 
apocalyptical  thoughts  and  saw  in  the  Church  the 
great  babel,  reserving  the  approaching  judgment  at 
one  time  for  God,  at  another  for  the  emperor.  A 
small  part  of  the  Franciscans  made  common  cause 
with  them.     They   spread   over  Italy,  France,  and     Awaken 

J        x  J  '  '  Religious 

Germany   as   far  as    Bohemia    and    Brandenburg,      unrest, 
fostering  here  and  there   confused   heretical  ideas, 
sharpening  however  as  a  rule  only  the  consciences, 
awakening  religious  unrest  or  independence  in  the 
form  of  individual,  ascetic  religiousness,  and  relax- 
ing or  combating  the  authority  of  the  Church.     A 
lay  Christianity  developed  itself  tuithin  and  by  Lay  c.nris- 
the  side  of  the  Church,  in  which  the  trend  toward  Devel°Ped- 
religious  independence  became  strong ;  but  since  as- 
ceticism is  at  last  always  aimless  and  can  create  no 
blessedness,  it  stands  in  need  of  the  Church,  of  its 
authority  and  of  its  sacraments.     By  a  secret  but 
very  firm  tie  all  "heretics",  who  write  the  ascetic- 
evangelical  ideal  of  life  upon  their  standards,  remain 
bound  to  the   Church  from  whose  oppression,  rule 


436       OUTLINES   OP    THE   HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 

«sects"eNot  an(*  worldliness  they  wish  to  escape.  From  the  sects 
Enduring.  o£  BibiicistS)  Apocalyptics,  Waldensians  and  Hus- 
sites no  lasting  result  was  gained.  They  were  truly 
"heretical",  for  they  still  belonged  to  the  Church 
from  which  thejr  wished  to  escape.  The  numerous 
pious  brotherhoods,  which  grew  up  and  remained 
(although  with  many  sighs)  within  the  pale  of  the 
Church,  had  still  elasticity  enough  to  make  room  for 
"poverty"  and  evangelical  life,  and  to  receive  the 
mendicant  orders  into  membership.  She  soon  en- 
ervated them  and  they  became  her  best  supports. 
To  the  individual  piety  of  the  laity,  firmly  chained  to 
the  confessional,  sacraments,  priest  and  pope,  a  sub- 
ordinate existence  was  accorded  in  the  Church  of  the 
priests.  Thus  the  mediseval  Church  wearily  fought 
its  way  through  the  14th  and  15th  centuries.  For 
whatever  sacrifices  the  minorites  were  forced  to 
make  to  the  hierarchy,  they  in  a  manner  indemnified 
themselves  by  the  unheard-of  energy  with  which 
they  served  the  purposes  of  the  universal  Church 
Eitti^in-  through  the  laity.  The  universal,  historical  impor- 
by  wallen-  tance  of  the  movements  caused  by  the  Waldensians 
Mendi-     and  mendicant  orders  cannot  be  reckoned  in  new 

cants. 

doctrines  and  institutions,  although  these  were  not  en- 
tirely wanting,  but  consists  in  the  religious  awaken- 
ing and  in  an  unrest  leading  to  a  religious  indi- 
vidualism, which  they  caused.  In  so  far  as  the 
mendicant  orders  and  the  "ante-Reformation" 
movements  induced  the  individual  to  meditate  upon 
the  truths  of  salvation,  they  were  the  first  advance 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      437 

toward  the  Reformation.  Bat  the  more  religion  was 
carried  into  the  circles  of  the  third  rank  and  of  the 
laity  in  general,  the  greater  was  the  watchfulness 
touching  the  inviolability  of  the  old  dogma,  and  the  oid  Dogma 

ö  J  ö        '  Inviolable. 

great  majority  of  the  laity  indeed  desired  to  respect 
in  the  dogma  their  firm  standpoint  amidst  the  un- 
certainty concerning  the  standard  of  the  practical 
problems  and  concerning  the  correct  state  of  the  em- 
pirical Church. 

To  enter  into  particulars,  especial  attention  must  Meg[*![cJnt 
be  paid,  for  the  purpose  of  the  history  of  dogma,  to  WiYhMys- 
the  union  of  the  mendicant  orders  with  mysticism 
during  this  inner  religious  awakening.  Mysticism 
is  a  conscious,  reflecting,  Catholic  piety,  which  de- 
sires to  grow  by  this  very  reflection  and  contempla- 
tion :  Catholicism  knew  only  this  or  the  fides  impli- 
cita.  The  model  originated  from  a  combination  of 
Augustine  and  the   Areopagite,    enlivened  by  the   Augustine 

and  Areop- 

Bernardine  devotion  to  Christ.  Mysticism  has  many  c  Jgj^ 
forms;  but  national,  or  confessional  the  difference 
among  them  is  slight.  As  its  starting-point  his- 
torically is  pantheistic,  so  is  its  aim  pantheistic  (non- 
cosmical).  In  the  degree  in  which  it  holds  more  or 
less  strongly  to  the  historical  Christ  and  the  rules  of 
the  Church,  this  aim  comes  more  or  less  clearly  to 
light ;  but  even  in  the  most  churchly  stamp  of  mys- 
ticism the  dominating  thought  is  never  wholly  want- 
ing, which  points  beyond  the  historical  Christ :  God 
and  the  soul,  the  soul  and  its  God;  Christ  the 
brother;  the  birth  of  Christ  in  every  believer  (the 


438      OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


Mysticism 
Says  Relig- 
ion is  Life 
and  Love. 


Soul  Must 
Return  to 
God  by 
Purifica- 
tion, Illu- 
mination 
and  Union. 


The  Sen- 
suous is 
Sign   and 
Pledge  of 

the 
Eternal. 


latter  conceived  now  fantastically,  now  spiritually). 
Mysticism  taught  that  religion  is  life  and  love,  and 
from  this  lofty  idea  it  undertook  to  throw  light  upon 
all  dogma  to  the  very  depths  of  the  trinity,  and  even 
to  remodel  the  same ;  it  created  individual  religious 
life,  and  the  mystics  of  the  mendicant  orders  were 
its  greatest  virtuosos.  But  because  it  did  not  recog- 
nize the  rock  of  faith,  it  was  able  only  to  give  direc- 
tions for  a  progressus  infinitus  (to  God) ,  but  did 
not  allow  the  steadfast  feeling  of  a  safe  possession  to 
thrive. 

The  admonitions  of  mysticism  move  within  the 
circle,  that  the  soul,  alienated  from  God,  must  return 
to  God  by  purification,  illumination  and  substan- 
tial union;  it  must  be  "developed",  "cultivated" 
and  "highly-refined".  With  the  rich  and  certain 
intuition  of  past  experience,  the  mystics  talked  of  a 
turning  in  upon  the  soul,  of  the  contemplation  of  the 
outer  world  as  the  work  of  God,  of  poverty  and 
humility,  with  which  the  soul  must  accord.  In  all 
stages  many  mystics  understood  how  to  draw  upon 
the  whole  ecclesiastical  apparatus  of  the  means  of 
salvation  (sacraments,  sacramental  influences);  for, 
as  with  the  Neo-Platonists,  so  also  with  the  mystics, 
the  most  inner  spiritual  piety  did  not  stand  opposed 
to  the  worship  of  idols :  The  sensuous,  upon  which 
rests  the  sheen  of  a  holy  tradition,  is  the  sign  and 
pledge  of  the  eternal.  The  penance  sacrament  es- 
pecially played,  as  a  rule,  a  great  role  in  the  "  puri- 
fication".    In  the   "illumination"   the   Bernardine 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      439 

contemplations  are  very  prominent.  By  the  side  of 
highly  doubtful  directions  regarding  the  imitation  of 
Christ,  there  are  also  found  evangelical  thoughts — 
faithful  confidence  in  Christ.  Besides,  there  is  em- 
phasized here  the  entire  immersing  in  love,  from 
which  was  developed  a  great  increase  of  inner  life, 
in  which  latter  the  Renaissance  and  Reformation 
seem  to  have  been  prepared  for.     In  the  "  substan-  Pantheistic 

r      r  Element. 

tial  union"  there  finally  appeared  the  metaphysical 
thoughts  (God  as  the  all,  the  individual  as  nothing ; 
God  the  "abysmal  substance",  the  "peaceful  pas- 
sivity", etc.).  Even  the  normal  dogmatist  Thomas 
here  countenanced  pantheistic  ideas,  which  gave  the 
impulse  to  "  extravagant"  piety.  In  recent  times  it 
has  been  shown  by  Denifle  that  Master  Eckhart,  the      Master 

J  '  Eckhart. 

great  mystic  who  was  censured  by  the  Church,  was 
entirely  dependent  upon  Thomas.  But  however  dan- 
gerous these  speculations  have  been — their  intention 
was  nevertheless  the  highest  spiritual  freedom  (see 
for  example  the  "  German  theology") ,  which,  by  en- 
tire withdrawal  from  the  world,  should  be  attained 
through  the  feeling  of  the  Supernatural.  In  this 
sense  especially  the  German  mystics  since  Eckhart 
have  wrought.  While  the  Romance  peoples  above  all  ge^1^ 
tried  to  arouse  violent  emotions  by  penitential  ser- 
mons, they  undertook  the  positive  task  of  bringing 
the  highest  ideas  of  the  piety  of  the  times  into  the 
popular  language  and  within  the  ranks  of  the  laity 
(Tauler,  Seuse,  etc.),  and  to  render,  through  self- 
discipline,  the  mind  at  home  in  the  world  of  love. 


440       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

VlKod0f  They  taught  (following  Thomas)  that  the  soul  can 
safedHere.  even  here  upon  earth  so  receive  God  within  itself 
as  to  enjoy  in  the  fullest  sense  the  vision  of  his 
Being  and  dwell  in  heaven  itself.  Indeed  the  idea 
of  full  surrender  to  the  Divine  verged  toward  the 
other  thought,  that  the  soul  bears  the  Divine  within 
itself  and  is  able  to  develop  it  as  spiritual  freedom 
and  superiority  beyond  everything  existing  and  con- 
ceivable. The  directions  for  it  are  sometimes  more 
intellectually  precise,  at  others  more  quietistic.  The 
Th  aSdStic  Thomistic  mysticism  possesses  the  Augustinian  as- 
Mysticism.  surance  of  gaining  freedom  through  knowledge  and 
of  rising  to  God;  the  Scotistic  no  longer  possessed 
this  assurance,  and  it  sought  the  highest  moods 
through  disciplining  the  will:  Union  of  ivill  tvith 
God,  resignation,  tranquillity.  Herein  indeed  lay 
a  progress  in  the  recognition  of  evangelical  piety, 
which  was  full  of  import  for  the  Reformation ;  but 
even  the  nominalists  (Scotists)  had  lost  a  clear  and 
definite  apprehension  of  the  Divine  will.  The  way 
seemed  open  here  for  the  question  concerning  the 
certitudo  salutis,  but  this  remained  unanswered  so 
long  as  the  conception  of  God  was  not  pushed  beyond 
the  line  of  the  arbitrary  Will. 
MjSSi  Tlie  importance  of  mysticism,  especially  of  German 
mysticism,  is  not  to  be  underrated  even  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  positive  equipment  of  asceticism  as  active, 
brotherly  love.  The  old  monkish  instructions  were 
enlivened  by  the  energetic  admonition  to  the  service 
of  one's  neighbor.     The  simple  relation  of  man  to 


Influential. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      441 

man,  made  sacred  by  the  Christian  commandment 
of  love  and  by  the  peace  of  God,  is  noticeable  in  all 
the  persistent  organizations  and  castes  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  was  preparing  to  burst  them.  Here  also 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  can  be  perceived :  The 
monks  became  more  active,  more  worldly — frequently 
in  truth  run  wild  therein — and  the  laity  became  more 
alive  and  active.  In  the  free  unions,  half  secular, 
half  ecclesiastical,  the  pulse  of  a  life  of  piety  throbbed. 
The  old  religious  orders  were  in  part  kept  alive  sim- 
ply artificially  and  lost  their  authority.  Among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  and  Czechs,  hitherto  oppressed  and 
kept  in  poverty  by  foreign  nations,  the  new  piety 
allied  itself  with  a  politico-national  program  (Wiclif  wiciif  and 
and  Huss  movements).  This  had  a  most  energizing 
effect  upon  Germany,  but  it  never  brought  about 
in  patient  and  divided  Germany  a  national  reform 
movement.  Everything  socially  revolutionary  or 
anti-hierarchical  remained  isolated,  and  even  when 
the  world-dominating  Church  had  prostituted  itself  ^fJJ11*"" 
in  Avignon  and  when  at  the  reform  councils  the  cry  of  Avlgm,^ 
the  Romance  nations  for  reform  and  insurance  against 
the  shameless  financial  dominance  of  the  curia  had 
become  loud,  the  German  peoples,  with  few  excep- 
tions, still  kept  their  patience.  An  immense  revolu- 
tion, again  and  again  retarded,  was  prepared  during 
the  15th  century,  but  it  appeared  to  threaten  merely 
the  political  and  ecclesiastical  institutions.  Piety  ^^^ck 
seldom  attacked  the  old  dogma,  which  through  Dogma, 
nominalism  had  become  wholly  a  sacred  relic.     It 


Thomas  ä 
Eempis. 


442       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

turned,  it  is  true,  against  the  new  doctrines  deduced 
from  vicious  Church  practices;  but  as  for  itself  it 
desired  to  be  nothing  else  than  the  old  ecclesiastical 
piety,  and  indeed  it  was  nothing  else.  In  the  15th 
century  mysticism  clarified  itself  in  Germany.  The 
"  Imitation  of  Christ"  by  Thomas  a  Kempis  is  its 
purest  expression ;  but  anything  like  reform  in  the 
strictest  sense  is  not  proclaimed  in  the  little  book. 
The  reformation  part  consists  only  in  its  individual- 
ism and  in  the  power  with  which  it  addresses  itself 
to  every  soul. 


2.   On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Laiv. 
Doctrine  of  the  Church. 


The 


code  of         In  the  time  from  Gratian  to  Innocent  III.  the  papal 

Gratian 

Basal,  system  secured  the  supremacy.  The  whole  decretal 
legislation  from  1159  to  1320  rests  upon  the  code  of 
Gratian,  and  scholastic  theology  became  subject  to 
it.  Citations  from  the  Church  fathers,  in  great  part, 
were  transmitted  by  the  law-books.  The  Church, 
which  in  dogmatics  should  ever  be  the  communion 
of  believers  (of  the  predestined),  was  in  truth  a 
Episcopus   hierarchy,  the  pope  was  the  episcopus  universalis. 

Univer- 

saiis.       Withm  ecclesiastical  limits  the  German  kings  per- 
mitted this  development,  and  are  responsible  for  it. 

The  leading  thoughts  in  regard  to  the  Church, 
which  were  only  later  finally  established,  were  the 
mSISbX    following:  CO  The  hierarchical  organization  is  es- 
sential to  the  Church,  and  the  Christianity  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      443 

laity  is  in  every  respect  bound  to  the  intermediation 
of  the  priests  (rite  ordinati) ,  who  alone  can  perform 
the  Church  functions ;  (2)  The  sacramental  and  juris-  5uiSäts 
dictional  powers  of  the  priests  are  independent  of 
their  personal  worthiness ;  (3)  The  Church  is  a  visible 
communion  endowed  with  a  constitution  originating 
with  Christ  (and  as  such  corpus  Christi) ;  it  has  a 
twofold  potestas,   namely    spiritualis  et  tempor-     Twofold 
alts.     Through  both  it,  which  shall  endure  to  the    church- 
end  of  the  world,  is  superior  to  and  placed  above  the 
perishable  states.     Therefore  all  states  and  all  indi- 
viduals must  be  obedient  to  it  (de  necessitate  salu- 
tis);  even  over  heretics  and  heathens  the  power  of 
the  Church  extends  (final  decision  by  Boniface  VIII.) ; 
(4)    In  the  pope,  the  representative  of  Christ  and     w^efis 

Two 

successor  of  Peter,  a  strictly  monarchical  constitution  swords. 
is  given  to  the  Church.  Whatever  is  valid  of  the 
hierarchy  is  above  all  valid  of  him ;  the  remaining 
members  of  the  hierarchy  are  appointed  only  "  in 
partem  sollicitudinis" .  He  is  the  episcopus  uni- 
versalis; to  him  therefore  belong  the  two  swords; 
and  since  the  Christian  can  attain  unto  sanctifica- 
tion  only  within  the  Church,  since  however  the 
Church  is  the  hierarchy  and  the  hierarchy  the  pope, 
all  the  world  must  de  necessitate  salutis  be  subject 
to  the  pope  (bull  "  unam  sanctam") .  By  a  chain  of 
falsifications,  which  arose  especially  within  the  re-  DecÄais. 
awakened  polemics  against  the  Greeks  (13th  century) , 
these  maxims  were  dated  back  into  ecclesiastical 
antiquity,    yet  were    strictly   formulated    (Thomas 


444       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Aquinas)  only  after  they  had  long  been  admitted  in 
practice.  The  new  law  followed  the  new  custom, 
which  was  strengthened  by  the  mendicant  orders; 
for  the  latter,  thoroughly  unsettled  by  the  special 
privileges  which  they  received,  and  the  aristo- 
cratic, provincial  and  local  powers  completed  the 
victory   of  the  papal  autocracy.     The   doctrine    of 

papal  in-  papal  infallibility  was  the  necessary  result  of  this 
development.  This  also  was  formulated  by  Thomas, 
but  not  as  yet  carried  through ;  for  on  this  last  point 
both  the  historical  and  the  provincial  ecclesiastical 
conscience  reacted  (the  university  of  Paris ;  the  re- 
buke of  John  XXII.  as  an  heretic).  About  1300  the 
extravagant  exaltation  of  the  papacy  in  literature 
reached  its  height  (Augustinus  Triumphus,  Alvarus 
Pelagius),  but  after  about  13 30  it  grew  weak,  to  grow 
strong  again  only  after  120  years  (Torquemada). 
In  the  interval  the  latest  development  of  the  papacy 

violently    was  combated  violently,  but  not  successfully,  first  in 

Combated.  g  J  J  ' 

the  ghibelline  literature,  to  which  for  a  time  the 
minorite  (Occam)  was  allied,  later  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  supremacy  of  the  councils.  Only  tem- 
porarily was  Munich  the  seat  of  the  opposition  and 
did  German  authors  take  part  in  it.  The  real  land 
of  opposition  was  France,  its  king  and  bishops,  yes 
the  French  nation.  The  latter  alone  preserved  the 
rsSonC  freedom  stained  at  the  councils  (pragmatic  sanc- 
tion at  Bourges,  1430) ;  but  in  the  concordat  of  1517 
the  king  also  sacrificed  it  to  share  with  the  pope, 
after  the  example  of  other  princes,  the  established 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      445 

Church  of  the  country.  By  about  1500  the  old 
tyranny  had  been  re-established  almost  everywhere. 
The  Lateran  council,  at  the  beginning  of  the  16th 
century,  defied  the  wishes  of  the  nations  as  though 
there  never  had  been  sessions  at  Constance  and  Bale. 

The  new  development  of  the  idea  of  the  Church,  ^eaTn- 
up  to  the  middle  of  the  13th  century,  was  brought  fljuSspru-y 
about  not  by  theology  but  by  jurisprudence.  This 
is  explained,  (1)  By  the  lack  of  interest  in  theology 
at  Rome,  (2)  By  the  fact  that  the  theologians,  when- 
ever they  meditated  about  the  Church,  always  re- 
peated the  dissertations  of  Augustine  concerning  the 
Church  as  societas  fidelium  {numerus  electorum), 
for  which  reason  also  the  later  "  heretical"  opinions 
concerning  the  Church  are  found  in  the  great  scholas- 
tics. Only  after  the  middle  of  the  13th  century  did 
theology  take  an  interest  in  the  hierarchial,  papal 
Church  idea  of  the  -jurists  (forerunner :  Hugo  of  St.     Hugo  St. 

J  v  °  Victor. 

Victor).  The  controversy  with  the  Greeks,  espe- 
cially after  the  council  of  Lyons,  1274,  furnished 
the  opportunity.  The  importance  of  Thomas  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  he  first  developed  strictly 
the  papal  conception  of  the  Church  ivithin  dog- 
matics^ but  at  the  same  time  united  it  artfidlij 
ivith  the  Augustinian  idea  from  ivhich  he  started. 
Thomas  adheres  to  it  that  the  Church  is  the  number  j^SELt 
of  the  elect ;  but  he  shows  that  the  Church  is  author-  Augustine, 
ity  in  doctrinal  law,  and  as  a  priestly  sacramental 
institution  is  the  exclusive  organ  through  which  the 
head  of  the  Church  procures  members.     Thus  he  was 


446       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

able  to  join  the  new  to  the  old.  Nevertheless  till  the 
Reformation  and  beyond  it  the  whole  hierarchical 
and  papal  theory  obtained  no  sure  position  in  dog- 
matics ;  it  remained  Roman  decretal  right,  was  util- 
ized in  practice  and  ruled  over  the  hearts  of  men 
through  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments.  All  that 
could  be  expected  in  the  interest  of  the  hierarchy 
from  a  formulation  of  the  Church  idea  had  indeed 
already  been  acquired  as  a  secure  possession. 

°^oma°n  Because  it  was  an  opposition  from  the  centre  every 
Fu5ie.  opposition  against  the  Roman  idea  of  the  Church 
which  became  clamorous  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
Middle  Ages  remained  ineffectual.  The  signifi- 
cance of  faith  to  the  Church  idea  no  one  clearly 
recognized,  and  the  final  trend  of  the  whole  religious 
system  toward  the  visio  et  fruitio  dei  no  one  cor- 

r  common    rected.     The  common  ground  of  the  defenders  of  the 

C;  round    of  ° 

DandDopr-s  hierarchical  Church  idea  and  their  opponents  was  the 
following:  (1)  The  Church  is  the  communion  of 
those  who  shall  attain  unto  the  vision  of  God,  of 
the  predestined;  (2)  Since  no  one  knows  whether  he 
belongs  to  this  communion,  he  must  make  diligent 
use  of  the  means  of  salvation  of  the  Church;  (3) 
These  means  of  salvation,  the  sacraments,  are  be- 
stowed upon  the  empirical  Church  and  attached  to 
the  priests ;  (4)  They  have  a  double  purpose,  first,  to 
prepare  for  the  life  beyond  by  incorporation  in  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  then,  since  they  are  powers  of 
faith  and  love,  to  produce  here  on  earth  the  "  bene 
vivere",  i.e.  to  cause  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  of 


ponents. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      447 

Christ;  (5)  Since  even  upon  the  earth  the  fulfilment 
of  the  law  of  Christ  (in  poverty,  humility  and  obedi- 
ence) is  the  highest  duty,  therefore  the  temporal  life, 
also  the  state,  is  subordinate  to  this  aim  and  thus 
also  to  the  sacraments  and  in  every  sense  to  the 
Church.  Upon  this  common  ground  moved  all  the 
controversies  regarding  the  Church  and  her  reform. 

The  papists  drew  the  further  consequences,  that  the   Hierarchy 

Necessary- 
hierarchical  order,  invested  with  the  administration    totfonva" 

of  the  sacraments  and  with  the  authority  of  the 
Church  to  subordinate  to  itself  the  temporal  life,  was 
de  necessitate  salutis;  still  they  permitted  the  moral 
duty  of  really  fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ  entirely  to 
recede  behind  the  mechanically  and  hierarchically 
carried  out  administration  of .  the  sacraments,  where- 
by they  degraded  the  Church  idea,  as  the  number  of  the 
predestined  (religious)  and  as  the  communion  of  those 
living  according  to  the  law  of  Christ  (moral) ,  to  a  mere 
phrase,  and  sought  the  guarantee  for  the  legitimacy 
of  the  Church  in  the  strictest  conception  of  the  ob- 
jective system  culminating  in  the  pope,  endan- 
gering however  themselves  the  finished  building 
in  one  point — the  re-ordinations.  The  opponents,  ^elsof1 
however,  hit  upon  "heretical"  ideas,  either,  (1)  By  °PP°nents- 
contending  against  the  hierarchical  order,  since  be- 
yond the  bishop's  office  the  same  is  neither  supported 
"by  the  Scriptures,  nor  by  tradition,  or,  (2)  By  allow- 
ing the  religious  and  moral  idea  contained  in  the 
thought  of  predestination  and  in  the  conception  of 
the  Church  as  the  communion  of  imitators  of  Christ, 


■1 48        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

to  supersede  the  idea  of  the  empirical  Church  as  an 
institution  of  sacraments  and  of  law,  and  (3)  By 
measuring,  therefore,  the  priests  and  with  them  the 
Church  authorities  by  the  law  of  God  (in  a  Donatis- 
tic  way),  before  they  conceded  to  them  the  right  to 
administer  the  keys,  "to  loose  and  to  bind".  The 
opposition  of  all  so-called  "  prse-reformatory"  sects 
and  men  had  its  root  in  these  theses.  From  them 
one  could  develop  the  seemingly  most  radical  anti- 
theses to  the  ruling  Church,  and  has  developed  them 
(devil's  Church,  babel,  anti-Christ,  etc.) ;  yet  this 
must  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  opponents  stood 
Real       upon  common  ground.     Men  placed  the  moral  char- 

l'rocrcss. 

acteristics  of  the  Church  above  the  juristic  and  "  ob- 
jective"— certainly  this  was  a  blessed  progress — but 
the  fundamental  ideas  (Church  as  sacramental  insti- 
tution, necessity  of  priesthood,  fruitio  del  as  aim, 
lack  of  esteem  for  civil  life)  remained  the  same,  and 
under  the  title  of  the  societas  fidelium  in  truth 
only  a  legalistic  moral  Church  idea  was  established. 
The  Church  is  the  sum  total  of  those  who  carry  out 
the  apostolic  life  according  to  the  law  of  Christ. 
wSSfto  Faith  was  considered  only  as  one  characteristic 
Im0T,Vv'  under  the  conception  of  the  law,  and  in  the  place  of 
the  commandments  of  the  priests  stepped  the  Fran- 
ciscan rule,  or  a  Biblicism,  against  whose  apocalyp- 
tic or  wild  excrescences  one  had  to  take  refuge  in 
the  old  dogma  and  in  ecclesiastical  tradition.  Neither 
a  communion  of  believers,  nor  an  invisible  Church, 
as  is  falsely  believed,  did   the  Reformers   have   in 


DEVELOPMENT    OF    DOCTRINE    OF    SIX.  ETC.      449 

view,  but  their  object  was  to  improve  the  old  Church 

of  priests  and  sacraments  by  dissolving  her  hierarchic 
monarchical  constitution,  by  abolishing  her  assumed 
political  powers  and  by  carefully  sifting  her  priests 
according  to  the  standard  of  the  law  of  Christ,  or  of 
the  Bible.  On  these  conditions  she  was  also  es- 
teemed by  the  Reformers  as  the  visible,  holy  Church, 
through  which  God  realizes  his  predestinations. 
They  did  not  recognize  that  the  carrying  out  of  this 
Donatistic  thesis  was  an  impossibility  and  that  this 
reformed  Church  must  again  become  hierarchical. 

The  Waldensians  neither  contested  the  Catholic  waiden- 
worship,  nor  the  sacraments  and  hierarchial  consti- 
tution in  themselves,  but  considered  it  a  deadly  sin 
that  the  Catholic  ecclesiastics  should  exercise  the 
rights  of  successors  of  the  apostles,  without  taking 
upon  themselves  the  apostolic  life,  and  they  protested 
against  the  extensive  governing  power  of  the  pope 
and  the  bishops.     The  Joachimites  and  a  part  of  the    Joachim- 

■  x  ites  and 

minorites  united  the  apocalyptic  with  the  legal  ele-  -Imorites- 
ment.  Here  also  it  was  not  the  question  of  a  sacra- 
mental institution  and  priesthood,  but  only  of  the 
right  of  hierarchical  divisions  of  rank,  of  the  Divine 
investiture  of  the  pope  and  of  the  ecclesiastical  gov- 
erning power,  which  was  denied  to  the  Church  under 
the  authority  of  the  Franciscan  theory.  The  hand- 
ing over  of  the  whole  legal  sphere   to  the  state  was   professors 

.  _  at  Paris 

with  manv  merelv  an  expression  of  their  contempt     Attack 

1  -1       Pseudo-Isi- 

for  this  sphere.     The  professors  of  Paris  and  their    Q^'jJSau 

itional-liberal  coterie  attacked  the  pseudo-Isidorian      ment01> 
29 


150       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

and  Gregorian  development  of  the  papacy  and  of  the 
constitution  at  the  root,  and  yet  they  only  intended 
primarily  to  paralyze  the  papal  finance  system  and 
to  heal  the  injury  to  the  Church  through  an  episco- 
palianism,  which,  in  view  of  what  the  Church 
already  was  as  a  Roman  power,  must  be  desig- 
nated utopian.  Wiclif  and  Huss — the  latter  a 
powerful  agitator  in  the  spirit  of  Wiclif  but  with- 
out theological  independence — represent  the  ripest 
phase  of  the  reform  movements  of  the  Middle  Ages : 
WiHussand  (1)  They  showed  that  the  cultus  and  sacramental 
practices  everywhere  were  hampered  and  vitiated 
by  human  tenets  (indulgences,  confessions,  absolute 
pardoning  power  of  the  priests,  manducatio  infidel- 
iumy  saints-,  image-,  relic-worship,  special  masses, 
sacramentals,  Wiclif  also  against  transubstantiation) ; 
they  demanded  plainness,  intelligibleness  (language 
of  the  country)  and  spirituality  of  worship ;  (2)  They 
demanded  a  reform  of  the  hierarchy  and  of  the  secu- 
larized mendicant  orders ;  these  all,  the  pope  at  the 
head,  must  return  to  an  apostolic  ministry;  the  pope 
is  only  the  first  servant  of  Christ,  not  his  represen- 
tative; all  governing  must  cease;  (3)  They,  like 
Thomas,  brought  to  the  front  the  Augustinian  pre- 
destination Church  idea,  yet  while  Thomas  in  join- 
ing to  it  the  empirical  idea  disposes  of  everything 
moral  only  through  the  medium  of  the  sacraments, 
they,  without  robbing  the  sacraments  of  their  im- 
portance, raised  to  the  central  place  the  idea  that 
the  empirical  Church  must  be  the  kingdom  in  which 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      451 

the  latu  of  Christ  governs.  They  taught  that  the  I<5JJ.is°f 
law  of  Christ  is  the  true  nota  ecclesiae;  therefore  in  SlesSe* 
accordance  with  this  fundamental  principle  the  right 
also  of  the  priesthood  and  the  manner  of  administering 
the  sacraments  must  be  determined.  Wiclif  thereby 
contested  the  independent  right  of  the  clergy  to  be 
representatives  of  the  Church  and  administrators  of 
the  means  of  grace  and  made  it  dependent  upon  the 
observing  of  the  lex  Christi.  "Faith"  was  also  ^mpha^ 
passed  over  by  Wiclif  and  Huss.  In  turning  with  all 
their  might  against  the  hierarchy  and  against  the 
objective,  legal  idea  of  the  Church  system,  they 
placed  the  legal  Church  idea  in  opposition  to  the 
judicial.  The  "fides  caritate  formata",  that  is, 
the  observance  of  the  law,  alone  gives  legitimacy  to 
the  Church.  Thus  much  they  did  for  the  in- 
wardness of  the  contemplation  of  the  Church — the 
hierarchical  conception  of  the  Church  had  still  in  op- 
position to  their  own  an  element  of  truth,  though  a 
perverted  one:  That  God  builds  his  Church  upon 
earth  by  his  grace  in  the  midst  of  sin,  and  that  holi- 
ness in  a  religious  sense  is  no  mark  that  can  be 
recognized  by  a  legal  standard  (on  the  Church  idea  of 
Thomas  and  the  Prae-Reformers,  see  Gottschick  i. 
d.  Ztschr,  f,  KGesch.  Bd.  VIII), 


452       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

3.   On  the  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Science. 

Histories  of  philosophy  by  Erdmann,  Überweg-Heinze, 
"Windelband,  Stöckl,  Baur,  Vorles  üb.  DG.  2.  Bd.  Werner, 
Scholastik  d.  späteren  MA.  3  Bde,  1881  ff.  Ritschi,  Fides 
implicita,  1890. 

causes  of       The  great  revival  of  science  after  the  beginning  of 

Revival  of  ö  °  ° 

science.  ^he  ^3^  century  was  occasioned,  (1)  By  the  mighty 
triumph  of  the  Church  and  the  papacy  under  Inno- 
cent III.,  (2)  By  the  exaltation  of  piety  since  St. 
Francis,  (3)  By  the  enlargement  and  enrichment  of  the 
general  culture  and  by  the  discovery  of  the  genuine 
Aristotle  (contact  with  the  Orient;  transmission  of 
Greek  philosophy  through  Arabs  and  Jews;  the 
supernaturalistic  Avicenna,  f  1037,  the  pantheistic 
Averrhoes,  f  1198;  Maimonides'  influence  upon 
Thomas  and  others).  The  two  new  great  powers, 
onfereCand  ^e  mendicant  orders  and  Aristotle,  were  obliged  to 
Aristotle.  secure  their  place  in  science  by  fighting  for  it ;  the 
latter  conquered,  since  it  was  plain  that  he  had  ren- 
dered the  best  service  in  opposition  to  an  eccentric 
realism,  which  leads  to  pantheism.  A  moderated 
realism  now  developed,  which  recognized  the  uni- 
versal "  in  re",  but  knew  how  to  add  them  accord- 
ing to  need,  either  "  ante",  or  "post  rem". 
Authority        The  new    science  like   the   older   sought   to    ex- 

of  Church  ° 

sc?evnce.  Plain  a11  tnings  through  reference  to  God ;  but  this 
reference  meant  the  same  as  the  submission  of  all 
knowledge  to  the  authority  of  the  Church.  In  a 
certain  sense  men  were  more  fettered  in  the  13th 


DEVELOPMENT   OE   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      453 


Anselm's 
Aim. 


century  than  formerly ;  for  not  only  the  old  dogma 
(articulifidei),  but  the  whole  territory  of  ecclesias- 
tical activity  was  considered  absolute  authority,  and 
the  pre-supposition  that  every  authority  in  single 
questions  is  of  equal  weight  with  the  ratio  was 
now  first  fully  expressed.  The  theologians  of  the 
mendicant  orders  justified  "  scientifically"  the  whole 
constitution  of  the  Church,  with  its  latest  institu- 
tions and  doctrines,  upon  the  same  plane  with  the 
"  credo"  and  the  "  intelligo".  Anselm  had  striven  to 
erect  a  rational  structure  upon  the  foundation  of 
authoritative  revelation;  with  the  later  theologians 
the  jumbling  of  authorities  in  a  most  unconcerned 
manner  was  a  principle.  Although  they  adhered  to 
the  theory  that  theology  is  a  speculative  science 
which  culminates  in  the  visio  dei,  yet  so  great  was 
their  confidence  in  the  Church  that  they  continually 
added  to  the  speculative  structure  the  tenets  of  her 
authority.  Hence  originated  the  theory  that  there 
exist  a  natural  and  a  revealed  theology;  still  they 
conceived  these  as  being  in  closest  harmony,  the  one  Theology, 
as  the  supplement  and  complement  of  the  other ;  and 
they  were  confident  that  the  whole  was  tenable  even 
before  the  bar  of  reason.  The  abundance  of  the 
material  to  be  mastered  was  unbounded,  as  well  in 
regard  to  revelation  (the  whole  Bible,  the  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  Church),  as  in  regard  to  reason 
(Aristotle).  Nevertheless  they  advanced  from  the 
"  Sentences"  to  a  system  ("  summa") :  That  which 
the  Church  retains  in  life,  the  dominion  over  the 


Natural 
and 


454       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Theology    world,  is  also  to  be  reflected  in  its  theology.     The 

( '<>i  ii pre- 

'"i-'n'out11  new  dogmatism  was  the  dialectic-systematical  treat- 
ment of  ecclesiastical  dogma  and  of  the  acts  of  the 
Church,  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  same  into 
a  single  system  comprehending  everything  in  the 
highest  sense  worthy  of  knowledge,  and  of  proving  it, 
and  then  of  rendering  serviceable  to  the  Church  all  the 
forces  of  the  mind  and  the  whole  knowledge  of  the 
world.  To  this  purpose,  however,  was  the  other  sub- 
jective one  united  of  rising  to  God  and  rejoicing  in  his 

SXurc?  presence.     But  both  purposes  now  coincided :  Knowl- 

Knowiedge  edge  of  the  Church  doctrines  is  knowledge  of  God, 
for  the  Church  is  the  present  Christ.  Therein 
were  these  scholastics  not  servile  workers  for  the 
Church — on  the  contrary :  Consciously  they  sought 
knowledge  only  for  the  benefit  of  their  souls,  yet 
they  breathed  only  within  the  Church.  The  struc- 
ture which  they  raised  collapsed,  but  their  work  in- 
deed was  a  progress  in  the  history  of  science. 

sununa  of  What  has  been  said  above,  has  reference  to  the 
prse-Scotistic  scholasticism,  above  all  to  Thomas. 
His  "  summa"  is  characterized,  (1)  By  the  conviction 
that  religion  and  theology  are  essentially  of  a  specu- 
lative (not  practical)  nature,  that  therefore  they 
must  be  acquired  by  thinking,  and  that  finally  no 
contradiction  can  arise  between  reason  and  revela- 
tion; (2)  By  a  firm  adherence  to  the  Augustinian 
doctrine  of  God,  of  predestination,  sin  and  grace 
(only  upon  the  conception  of  God  did  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  have  an  influence ;  the  strict  elevation  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      455 


the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  only  safe  revelation 
Thomas  also  accepted  from  Augustine) ;  (3)  By  a 
deeply  penetrating  knowledge  of  Aristotle  and  by  an 
extensive  use  of  his  philosophy,  as  far  as  Augustin- 
ianism  would  permit;  (4)  By  a  bold  justification  of 
the  highest  claims  of  the  Church  upon  a  genial 
theory  of  the  state  and  a  wonderfully  careful  obser- 
vation of  the  empirical  tendencies  of  the  papal  sys- 
tem of  Church  and  state.  The  world-historical 
importance  of  Thomas  consists  in  his  uniting  of 
Augustine  and  Aristotle.  As  a  pupil  of  Augustine 
he  is  a  speculative  thinker,  full  of  confidence  and  yet 
in  him  are  already  found  the  germs  of  the  destruction 
of  the  absolute  theology.  For  theology  as  a  whole 
he  still  sought  to  maintain  the  impression  of  absolute 
validity;  in  detail  arbitrary  and  relative  ideas  al- 
ready took  the  place  of  the  necessary,  while  he  no 
longer  deduced  purely  rationally  the  articuli  fidei, 
like  Anselm.* 

But  the  strictly  necessary  was  also  not  in  every 
respect  serviceable  to  the   Church.     She  demanded 

*  The  delineation  of  the  summa  agrees  with  the  fundamental  idea  of 
God:  Through  God  to  God.  The  first  part  (119  quaest.)  treats  of  God  and 
the  issue  of  all  things  from  God;  the  second  part,  sec.  1st  (114  quaest.) 
of  general  morality;  the  second  part,  sec.  2d  (189  quaest.)  of  special 
morality  under  the  point  of  view  of  the  return  of  the  rational  creature  to 
God ;  the  third  part,  which  Thomas  was  not  able  to  finish,  of  Christ,  the  sac- 
raments and  eschatology.  The  proceeding  in  every  separate  question  is  by 
the  method  of  contradiction.  All  reasons  which  speak  against  the  correct 
conception  of  the  doctrine  are  given  expression  Cidifficultates,r).  In 
general  the  governing  principle  is  that  the  whole  system  must  be  based 
upon  the  authority  of  revelation ;  "utitur  tarnen  sacra  doctrina  etiam  ra- 
tione  humana,  non  quidem  ad  probandam  fidem  (quia  per  hoc  tolleretur 
merjtcm  fidei),  sed  ad  manifestandum  aliqua  alia,  quae  traduntur  in  hac 
doctrina.  Cum  enim  gratia  non  tollat  naturam,  sed  perficiat,  oportet 
quod  naturalis  ratio  subserviat  fidei". 


Thomas 

Unites 

Augustine 

and 
Aristotle. 


Church  In- 
sists upon 
Blind  Sub- 
mission. 


456       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

here  also  that  the  deal  should  be  ä  deux  mains; 
She  wanted  a  theology  which  proved  the  speculative 
necessity  of  her  system  and  one  which  taught 
blind  submission.  Thomas'  theology  alone  could  not 
satisfy.  With  all  its  ecclesiastical  bent  it  could  not 
deny  the  fundamental  thought,  that  God  and  the 
soul,  the  soul  and  God  are  everything.  From  this 
Augustinian-Areopagite  attitude  that  "secondary- 
mysticism"  will  always  be  developed  in  which  the 
individual  endeavors  to  go  his  own  way.  Where 
there  is  inward  conviction,  there  is  also  indepen- 
dence. It  was  of  benefit  to  the  Church  that  theology 
Theoio-     soon  took  another  turn.     It  grew  skeptical  in  regard 

gians  o  i.  o 

GTcfikep"  to  tne  "general",  the  "idea",  which  should  be  the 
"substance".  Under  the  continuous  study  of  Aris- 
totle causality  became  the  principal  idea  in  place  of 
immanence.  The  scientific  sense  grew  stronger; 
details  in  their  concrete  expression  gained  in  interest : 
Will  ruled  the  world,  the  will  of  God  and  the  will 
of  the  individual,  not  an  unintelligible  substance,  or 
a  constructed  universal  intellect.  Eeason  recognized 
the  series  of  causalities  and  ended  in  the  discernment 
of  arbitrariness  and  mere  contingencies.  Duns 
Scotus,  the  most  penetrating  thinker  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  marks  this  immense  change ;  but  it  was  first 
consummated  since  Occam. 

^fUch°urS  Tlie  consequence  of  this  change  was  not  however  the 
protest  against  the  Church  doctrine  with  its  absolute 
tenets,  nor  the  attempt  to  try  these  by  the  principles 
upon  which  they  were  based,   but   the  increasing 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      457 

authority  of  the  Church.     At  her  door  was  laid  „  Reason 

°       J  Submits  to 

what  ratio  and  auctoritas  once  had  unitedly  Authority 
borne,  not  in  an  act  of  despair  but  as  a  self-evident 
act  of  obedience.  Socinianism  first  protested,  Pro- 
testantism examined  into  the  foundations  of  the 
doctrine — post-Tridentine  Catholicism  pursued  the 
direction  indicated  further :  Li  this  ivay,  while  nom- 
inalism began  to  rule,  the  ground  ivas  soon  icon 
for  the  later  trinitarian  development  of  doc- 
trine. 
Nominalism  had  great  advantages:   It  began  to    Nominal  - 

0  ©  -  o  ism   Had 

see  clearly  that  religion  is  something  else  than  vintages" 
knowledge  and  philosophy,  while  Thomas  was  want- 
ing in  clearness;  it  knew  the  importance  of  the 
concrete  in  opposition  to  the  hollowness  of  the  ab- 
stract (laying  the  foundation  for  a  new  psychology) ; 
it  recognized  the  will,  laid  stress  upon  this  property 
also  in  God,  strongly  emphasized  the  personality  of 
God  and  thereby  first  put  an  end  to  the  Neo-Platonic 
theosophy  which  mixed  up  God  and  the  world;  it 
grasped  the  positiveness  of  historical  religion  more 
firmly,— but  it  forfeited,  together  with  confidence 
in  an  absolute  knowledge,  also  confidence  in  the 
majesty  of  the  moral  law  and  thereby  emptied  the 
conception  of  God  and  exposed  him  to  arbitrariness, 
including  in  the  "positive",  to  which  it  submitted, 
the  Church  with  its  whole  apparatus — the  commands 
of  the  religious  and  moral  law  are  arbitrary,  but 
the  commands  of  the  Church  are  absolute.     It  estab-      üshed 

Right    of 

lished   in  dogmatics  the  sovereign  right  of  casuis-    casuistry. 


458       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

try,  already  anticipated  by  the  discipline  of  pen- 
ance not  only,  but  also  by  the  dialectics  of  the 
Thomists:  Everything  in  revelation  depends  upon 
the  Divine  will  which  is  arbitrary ;  therefore  intel- 
lect is  able  to  prove  at  most  only  the  "  conveniens" 
of  things  ordained.  In  so  far  however  as  it  has  its 
own  knowledge  there  exists  a  double  truth,  the  re- 
ligious and  the  natural ;  to  the  former  one  submits 
and  in  this  very  submission  consists  the  merit  of 
Fides  im-    the  faith.     In  greater  measure  (not  recoiling  even 

plicita  ° 

Sufficient,    ^  ^ie  friVolous)  nominalism  acknowledged  the  suffi- 
ciency of  the   "fides  implicita";  true,  it  here  found 
an  example  in  the  papal  decretals.     Had  not  Inno- 
cent IV.  expressly  taught  that  it  was  sufficient  for 
the  laity  to  believe  in  a  requiting  God,  as  for  the 
absurdity   rest  to  submit  to  the  Church  doctrine?     Absurdity 
Religion.    an(I  authority  now  became  the  stamp  of  religious 
truth.     While  freeing  themselves  from  the  load  of 
speculative  monstrosities  and  the  deceptive  "  neces- 
sity of  thinking",   men  took  upon  themselves  the 
dreadful  load  of  a  faith  the  content  of  which  they 
themselves  declared  to  be  arbitrary  and  opaque,  and 
which  they  therefore  were  able  to  wear  only  as  a 
uniform. 
Akmifmn"        Closely  allied  with  this  development  was  another, 
St  off y    the  gradual  casting  off  of  Augustinianism  and  the 
reinstatement  of  Roman  moralism,  now  confirmed 
by  Aristotle.     The  weight  of  guilt  and  the  power  of 
grace  became  relative  magnitudes.     From  Aristotle 
they  learned  that  man  by  his  freedom  stands  inde- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      459 

pendent  before  God,  and  since  they  had  cast  off 
Augustine's  doctrine  concerning  the  "  first  and  last 
things",  they  also,  under  cover  of  his  words, 
stripped  off  his  doctrine  of  grace.  Everything  in 
religion  and  ethics  became  only  probable,  redemp-  Probauty 
tion  itself  through  Christ  was  placed  among  the  most 
uncertain  categories.  The  fundamental  principles  of 
a  universal  religious  and  moral  diplomacy  were  ap- 
plied to  objective  religion  and  to  subjective  religious- 
ness.    The  holiness  of  God  was  extinguished :  He  is  Holiness  of 

0  God   Dis- 

not  entirely  severe,  not  entirely  holy.  Faith  need  counted- 
not  be  a  full  surrender,  penance  not  perfect  repent- 
ance, love  not  perfect  love.  Everywhere  a  "  certain 
standard"  (Aristotle)  is  sufficient  and  whatever  is 
wanting  is  supplied  by  the  sacraments  and  by  adher- 
ence to  the  Church;  for  the  religion  of  revelation 
was  given  to  make  the  way  to  heaven  easy,  and  the 
Church  alone  is  able  to  announce  what  "  standard" 
and  what  accidental  merits  will  satisfy  God.  This 
is  the  "  Aristotelianism"  or  the  "  reasoning"  of  the 
nominalistic  scholastics  which  Luther  hated  and 
which  the  Jesuits  in  the  post-Tridentine  times  fully 
introduced  into  the  Church. 

At  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  in  the    Reaction 

Against 

14th  century,  this  nominalism,  which  renders  relig-  No^1Ij1nal" 
ion  void,  called  forth  great  reactions,  yet  notwith- 
standing it  remained  in  vogue  at  the  universities. 
Not  only  the  theologians  of  the  Dominican  order 
contradicted  it  again  and  again,  but  outside  of  the 
order  also  an  Augustinian  reaction  broke  forth  in 


460       OUTLINES  OF    THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

Bradwardiua,  Wicliff,  Huss,  Wesel,  Wessel  and 
others.  They  stood  up  against  Pelagianism,  al- 
though they  allowed  wide  play  to  the  sacraments, 

PR?vWedm  the  fides  implicita  and  Church  authority.  A  power- 
ful ally  against  nominalism,  which  by  its  hollow 
formalistic  and  dialectic  principles  in  the  15th  cen- 
tury made  itself  outright  despicable,  was  gained  by 
an  Augustinian  reaction  in  favor  of  Plato  who  at 
that  time  was  being  brought  to  light  again.  A  new 
spirit  emanated  from  him  and  from  the  rediscovered 
antiquit}7 :  It  sought  knowledge  from  the  living, 
and  reached  out  toward  those  ideals  which  set  the 
individual  free  and  elevate  him  above  the  common 
world.  Through  violent  disturbances  the  new  spirit 
announced  itself  and  in  the  beginning  it  seemed  to 
threaten  Christianity  with  paganism;  yet  those  who 

Nicholas  of  represented  the  renaissance  most  brilliantly  (Nich- 

Kus, 

Erasmus.  0ias  0f  Kus,  Erasmus  and  others)  only  wished  to 
do  away  with  unspiritual  ecclesiasticism  and  its 
empty  science,  but  not  really  to  jeopardize  the  Church 
and  the  dogma.  The  restored  confidence  in  the  rec- 
ognizable unity  of  all  things,  the  bold  soaring  of  the 
fantasy  inspired  by  antiquity  and  the  discovery  of 
new  worlds,  these  founded  the  new  science.  Nomin- 
alistic  science  did  not  become  by  purification  an 
exact  science,  but  a  new  spirit  moved  among  the 
withered  foliage  of  scholasticism,  and  gained  confi- 
dence and  strength  to  extract  the  secrets  from  nat- 
ure also,  as  well  as  from  the  vivid  speculations  of 
Plato  which  inspire  the  whole  man,  and  from  inter- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      461 

course  with  the  living.  But  theology  did  not  at  first 
profit  by  it.  It  was  simply  pushed  aside.  The  nJJjJ^sts 
Christian  humanists  also  were  no  theologians,  but  Aug^tin-y 
only  learned  patristic  scholars  with  Platonic-Fran- 
ciscan ideals, — at  best  only  Augustinians.  No  one 
really  had  any  longer  any  confidence  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal doctrine,  but  through  a  sense  for  the  original 
teaching,  which  the  renaissance  had  awakened,  a 
new  theology  was  prepared. 

4.   The  Reminting  of  Dogmatics  into  Scholastics. 

In  the  scholasticism  of  the  13th  century  the  Occi-    Presuppo- 

^  sitions 

dental  Church  obtained  a  homogeneous,  systematic  oftfcismas* 
representation  of  its  faith.  The  pre-suppositions 
were,  (1)  The  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  dogmas  of  the 
councils,  (2)  Augustinianism,  (3)  The  development 
of  ecclesiasticism  since  the  9th  century,  (4)  The 
Aristotelian  philosophy.  Individual  bliss  in  the 
hereafter  is  still  the  finis  theologiae,  but  in  so  far  as 
the  sacraments,  which  serve  this  purpose,  restore  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  upon  earth  also  as  a  power  of  love 
(already  since  Augustine),  a  second  aim  was  intro- 
duced into  theology :  It  is  not  only  food  for  the  soul 
but  also  ecclesiasticism.  But  the  difference  be- 
tween these  two  ideas  has  never  been  adjusted  in 
Catholicism.  In  them  grace  and  merit  are  the  two 
centres  of  the  parabola  of  the  medisBval  conception 
of  Christianity. 

Only  the  old  articuli  ficlei  were  dogmas  in  a  strict 


.  i  '.;-;iiftv 


of    hi.  pi::*  7:  ■; 

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5 

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e 

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"•'J!' 


i>r\  ii  orMRNT   OK   DOCTHINK   I  KTl         108 


it  n1 

1      M,      | 


ontological  proof  of  Vn  olm)  ;  l>ui  Inter  Hi«  dangi  i 
from  pantheism  was  fell  I  Vmnlrich  of  Bana,  David 
of    Dinanto).      Thomas    ondoavored     to    unite    the 

\ ii-.il . i im, in  and  the  Aristotelian  conception  of  I  tod      v 
Gk)d    is  absolute  sub  itunco,  self -con  thinkii 

actus  />" ms ;  he  is  diflforonl  from  tho  world  (co  mo 
I« igical  pn k if)       \ r\  Tin >m  is  al  o     t Ml  had  i ho  mi »si 
lively    interest     in    omphn  i  ing    tho    absolute    Buf 
ficioncy  and  noco    it}  of  Qod  (in  God's  own  per  onal 
«•in I  the  w< »I'll I  i  •   included) ;    for  onlj    tho  uoeo    n py 
oan    l»"   roc«  '".in  •  'I    w  ii  Ii    certain t}  ;    bli    •   b<  »vi  i 
dejx>ni  Ih  upon   certain  Icnowled  \    I    Duns  o<  »n 

'I  l he  conception  ol  n  uoeoi     i r\'  outgoing  Hein 
( »\ eri brew  .ill   | '\< m ifi    ol   God,   denied  also  thai    tho 
divine  Will  could  be  mi  I     our  ethical     modes 

of  ill  'ii   in " ,  .mil  c< »nci  ived  of  God  morel j  as  b  ITi 1 1 
Will  with  unfathomable  motives,  i  e   withoul   tin 
(arbitrariness).   <  decani  (jm  Ktioned  also  tho  ('(inception 
of   the  )>riiii>iiii  moveus  immobile  and  pronounced 
uothoism  onlj  probcibihov  than  i)oly theism.    Tho 

conl  rnuiel  u  »n    Ihm  w  een     l  liomistH    and    nci  >uhi      i       , 

i  •       ii  •  i     •         '  ''  ■ 

I « »i  1 1  n  i  in   their  diu  crom   coneoptioiiH  ol    Mi«1  relation 

<>l     man  to  God       Tho    f< »rmer    looked    1 1|  »<  >n    this 

as    depondonco   and    i  cognized     in    tho    {food    tho 

rnrc   of   God    c  <  - « »« I    wills   ;i   thing  because  ii    Ii 

■•  I ) ;  the  lattor  separated  God   and   the  creature, 

conceived    tho   lattor   n     independent    l>ni    in   duty 

bound  i"  tho  Divine  commands  which  originate  In 

the  ploasuro  of  God   (h   thing   i      food   bocau  •    ( lod 

u  ill    M  )      Y< inder  predei  bination  irbiti arine 


464       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Theology  indeed  uttered  the  sentence  "pater  in  filio 
revelatus"  with  the  lips,  but  heeded  it  not. 
Docfcrineof       o.  The  construction  of  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity 

Trinity. 

belonged  entirely  to  scientific  labor,  after  tritheistic 
(Roscellin)  and  modalistic  (Abelard)  attempts  had 
been  repulsed.  Thomism  necessarily  retained  an 
inclination  to  modalism  (even  the  Lombard  was  ac- 
cused of  substantializing  the  divina  essentia  and 
hence  of  "quaternity"),  while  the  Scotistic  school 
kept  the  Persons  sharply  separated.  In  the  subtile 
researches  the  trinity  became  a  school  problem. 
The  treatment  of  it  proved  that  the  faith  of  the 
Occident  did  not  live  in  this  transmitted  doctrine, 
pantheism        3.   With  Thomas  are  still  found  remnants  of  the 

of  Thomas. 

pantheistic  way  of  thinking  (creation  as  actualiza- 
tion of  the  Divine  ideas ;  everything  which  is  exists 
only  participations  dei;  divina  bonitas  est  finis 
verum  omnium,  therefore  not  an  independent  aim 
in  the  world) ;  yet  he  by  introducing  the  Aristo- 
telian idea  had  already  essentially  completed  the  sep- 
aration of  God  from  the  creature,  and  he  endeavored 
to  restore  the  pare  idea  of  creation.  The  contrasts 
were  reflected  in  the  contest  about  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  In  the  Scotistic  school  God's  own  pur- 
pose and  that  of  the  creatures  were  sharply  separated. 
The  innumerable  host  of  questions  concerning  the 
government  of  the  world,  the  theodicy,  etc.,  which 
scholasticism  again  propounded,  belongs  to  the  his- 
tory of  theology.  Thomas  assumed  that  God  directs 
all  things   "immediate"   and  also  effects  the  cor- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      465 


ruptiones  reman  "quasi  per  accidens"  (Origen, 
Augustine) ;  the  Scotists  would  acknowledge  only  an 
indirect  direction  and  contested  the  Neo-Platonic 
doctrine  of  a  malum  in  the  interest  of  God  and  of 
the  independence  of  man. 

4.  Together  with   a   "nota"  against  the   "nihil-  Doctrine  of 

Two 

ism"  of  the  Lombard  who  denied  that  God  through     Natures; 

o  Jolin 

the  incarnation  has  become  something,  the  doctrine  ^emfs! 
of  the  two  natures  was  transmitted  to  the  great 
scholastics.  The  conception  of  John  Damascenus 
was  the  prescribed  one ;  but  the  hypostatical  union 
was  treated  as  a  school  problem.  The  Thomists  con- 
ceived the  human  as  passive  and  accidental  and 
really  continued  in  the  monophysitic  conception. 
Duns  endeavored  to  save  the  humanity  of  Christ, 
to  place  certain  limits  to  the  human  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  to  attribute  existence  also  to  the  human  in- 
dividual nature  of  Christ.  Still  within  this  territory 
Thomism  remained  victorious.  Practically  indeed 
men  made  use  of  the  Christological  dogma  only  in 
the  dogma  of  the  eucharist,  and  the  latest  scholasti- 
cism explained  the  same  as  necessary  and  reasonable 
(Occam. )  (God  might  also  have  assumed  the  natura 
asinina  and  still  have  been  able  to  save  us).  The 
doctrine  of  the  work  of  Christ  did  not  have  its  root 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  two  natures,  but  in  the  thought 
of  the  merit  of  the  sinless  man  Jesus,  whose  life  had 
a  divine  value.  (Christus passus  est  secundem  car- 
nem).  The  idea  of  the  satisf actio  (Halesius,  Al- 
bertus) was  also  brought  up  again.  Thomas  treated 
30 


Satisfac- 
tion of 
Christ. 


466        OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

it,  but  explained  the  redemption  through  the  death  of 
Christ  as  being  simply  the  most  fitting  way.  Be- 
cause in  it  is  represented  the  sum  of  all  imaginary 
suffering,  this  death,  which  brings  before  our  mind 
the  love  of  God,  becomes  an  example  for  us,  recalls  us 
from  sin  and  awakens  as  a  motive  our  love  in  return. 
Alongside  the  subjective  Thomas  also  emphasized 
the  objective:  If  God  had  redeemed  us  sola  volun- 
tate,  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  gain  so  much 
for  us ;  Christ's  death  has  obtained  for  us  not  only 
freedom  from  guilt,  but  also  the  gratia  justificans 
and  the  gloria  beatitudinis.  Moreover  all  possible 
points  of  view  were  quoted,  from  which  the  death  of 
sacrifi-  Christ  may  be  regarded.  As  satisf  actio  it  is  super- 
CmuSsl"  abundans,  since  as  regards  all  satisfaction  the  rule 
holds  good,  that  the  offended  one  loves  the  gift 
tendered  by  himself  more  than  he  hates  the  offence 
(sacrificium  acceptissimum).  This  apparently  cor- 
rect and  worthy  idea  became  fatal ;  it  is  plain  that 
Thomas  also  misjudges  the  suffering  of  punishment 
and  with  it  the  full  gravity  of  sin.  In  the  doctrine 
regarding  merit  the  reality  (not  the  possibility  only) 
of  our  reconciliation  through  the  death  of  Christ 
Ansoims    was  to  be  expressed.     Setting  aside  the  doctrine  of 

Doctrine  ° 

Extended,  the  two  natures  the  idea  of  Anselm  was  further  car- 
ried out,  that  the  merit  gained  through  the  voluntary 
suffering  descends  from  the  head  to  the  members: 
"  caput  et  membra  sunt  quasi  una  persona  mystica, 
et  ideo  satisfactio  Christi  ad  omnes  FIDELES 
pertinet,  sicut  ad  sua  membra".     But  the  idea  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      467 

faith  is  instantly  replaced  by  that  of  love:  " fides, 
per  quam  a  peccato  mundamur,  non  est  fides  in- 
formis,  quae  protest  esse  etiam  cum  peccato,  sed 
est  tides  formata per  caritatem" .     Thomas  wavered     Thomas 

J  J  Wavered 

between  the  hypothetical  and  the  necessary,  between    (KS^fve 
the  objective  (possible)  and  subjective  (real),  between  jectivl^e- 

•  •  t>.  ^  demption. 

the  rational  and  irrational  redemption.  Duns  drew 
the  consequences  of  the  satisfaction  theory  in  tracing 
everything  back  to  the  arbitrary  "  acceptation  of  God. 
The  arbitrary  estimation  of  the  Receiver  gives  the 
value  to  the  satisfaction,  as  it  also  alone  determines 
the  extent  of  the  offence.     The  death  of  Christ  was  Duns  Made 

Redemp- 

of  as  much  value  as  God  allowed  it  to  be ;  at  any  ^rij^Ict 
rate  the  idea  of  "infinite"  is  to  be  repudiated;  for 
neither  the  sin  nor  the  death  of  a  finite  man  can  have 
infinite  weight ;  besides  an  infinite  merit  is  wholly 
unnecessary,  since  the  sovereign  will  of  God  decrees 
what  is  good  and  meritorious  in  his  sight.  There- 
fore a  purus  homo  would  also  have  been  able  to  re- 
deem us ;  for  there  was  needed  only  a  first  impulse, 
the  rest  in  any  event  the  self-sufficient  man  must 
accomplish.  Duns  indeed  endeavored  to  show  also 
that  the  death  of  Christ  was  "appropriate";  but 
this  point  was  no  longer  of  real  importance :  Christ 
died,  because  God  so  willed  it.  Everything  "  neces- 
sary" and  "infinite",  which  is  here  only  an  expres- 
sion for  the  Divine,  was  cleared  away.  The  predes-  ^^Jy" 
tinating  arbitrariness  of  God  and  justification  by 
works  ruled  dogmatics.  Duns  in  truth  had  already 
destroyed  the  doctrine  of  redemption  and  annulled 


Works. 


468        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

the  Divinity  of  Christ.  Only  the  authority  of  the 
Church  kept  up  its  validity ;  should  the  former  fail, 
Socinianism  would  be  established.  Acknowledging 
this  authority  nominalistic  theologians  advanced  in 
their  dialectics  to  the  frivolous  and  blasphemous. 
However,  in  the  loth  century  there  reappeared  in 
connection  with  Augustinianism  a  more  serious  con- 
ception in  Gerson,  Wessel,  even  in  Biel  and  others, 
and  the  Bernardine  view  of  the  suffering  Christ  was 
never  lost  during  the  Middle  Ages. 


Faith  and 
Theology 
Lived  in 
the   Sacra- 
ments. 


B.    The   Scholastic  Doctrine   of   the   Sacra- 
ments. 

Hahn,  L.  v.  d.  Sacramenten,  1864. 

The  scholastic  uncertainties  and  liberties  touching 
the  doctrine  of  the  work  of  Christ  are  explained  by 
the  certainty  with  which  scholasticism  regarded  the 
benefit  of  salvation  in  the  sacraments  as  a  present  one. 
Faith  and  theology  lived  in  the  sacraments.  The 
Augustinian  doctrine  was  here  developed  materially 
and  formally ;  the  "  verbum"  however  was  evermore 
disregarded  in  favor  of  the  "  sacramentum" ;  for 
since  by  the  side  of  the  awakening  of  faith  and  love 
as  means  of  grace  the  old  definition  still  retained 
its  value :  "  gratia  nihil  est  aliud  quam  participata 
similitudo  divinae  NATURAE",  no  other  form 
of  grace  could  really  be  thought  of  than  the  magic- 
sacramental  form. 

The  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  was  for  a  long  time 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OP   SIN,  ETC      469 

developed  under  the  embarrassment,  that  there  was  NugJc?I-°f 
nothing  settled  regarding  the  number  of  the  sacra-  ™ertain.n 
ments.  Besides  baptism  and  the  eucharist  there  were 
an  indefinite  number  of  holy  acts  (compare  even  Ber- 
nard). Abelard  and  Hugo  St.  Victor  laid  stress  upon 
confirmation,  extreme  unction  and  marriage  (five  in 
number),  Robert  Pullus  upon  confirmation,  con- 
fession and  ordination.  Out  of  a  combination  per- 
haps in  the  contest  with  the  catharists  originated 
the  number  seven  (Roland's  book  of  tenets),  which 
the  Lombard  brought  forward  as  an  "opinion". 
Even  at  the  councils  of  1179  and  1215  the  number 
was  not  settled.  The  great  scholastics  first  brought 
the  same  to  honorable  recognition  and  at  Florence,  ^JJJJJIjJ^0' 
1439,  there  took  place  a  decided  ecclesiastical  decla-  c|^'  ^ön 
ration  (Eugene  IV. ,  bull  exultate  deo) .  However, 
a  full  equalizing  of  the  seven  sacraments  was  not 
intended  (baptism  and  especially  the  eucharist  re- 
mained prominent) .  The  "  conveniens  "  of  the  num- 
ber seven  and  the  organism  of  the  sacraments,  en- 
riching the  whole  life  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
Church,  were  explained  in  detail.  Indeed  the  very 
creation  of  these  seven  sacraments  was  a  master- 
piece of  a  perhaps  unconscious  politics. 

Hugo  began  the  technical  treatment  of  the  doc-  plter? 
trine,  retaining  the  Augustinian  distinction  between 
sacramentum  and  res  sacramenti  and  the  strong 
emphasis  upon  the  physico-spiritual  gift,  which  really 
is  included.  Following  him,  the  Lombard  (IV.  1. 
B.)  defined:  "Sacramentum  proprie  dicitur,  quod 


470      OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OP  DOGMA. 

ita  Signum  est  gratiae  dei  et  invisibilis  gratiae 
forma,  ut  imaginem  ipsius  gerat  et  causa  existat. 
Non  ergo  significant  tantum  gratia  sacramenta 
instituta  sunt,  sed  etiam  sanctificandi  "  (in  signifi- 
candi  gratia  the  Old  Testament  ordinances  were  hit 
upon).  Still  he  did  not  say  that  the  sacraments  con- 
tain the  grace  (Hugo),  but  that  they  make  it  efficient; 
he  also  demanded  only  a  signum  as  a  foundation,  not 
Thomas,  like  Hugo  a  corporate  elementum.  Thomas  also 
moderated  the  "  continent "  of  Hugo,  he  even  went 
further :  God  indeed  does  not  work  "  adhibitis  sac- 
ramentis"  (Bernard),  they  confer  grace  only  "per 
aliquem  modum".  God  himself  confers  it;  the 
sacraments  are  causae  instrumentales,  they  trans- 
mit the  effect  a  prima  movente.  They  are  also 
causa  et  signa;  thus  the  phrase  "  efficiunt  quod  figu- 
rant "  must  be  understood.  Still  there  is  contained 
in  the  sacraments  a  virtus  ad  inducendum  sacra- 
mentalem  effectum.  Later  on  the  relation  between 
the  sacraments  and  grace  was  entirely  relaxed. 
The  latter  only  accompanies  the  former,  for  the  mere 
arbitrariness  of  God  combined  them  (Duns)  by  vir- 
tue of  a  "pactum  cum  ecclesia  initum".  Thus  the 
N?i"?cou s"  nommalistic  conception  appears  less  magical  and  it 
PreiSSSs  PrePared  the  way  by  its  protest  against  the  "  conti- 
zwingirs.  nent"  for  the  sacramental  doctrine  of  the  forerunners 
of  the  Reformation  and  of  Zwingli.  But  this  change 
did  not  originate  in  the  interest  of  the  "  word"  and 
faith,  but,  as  remarked,  in  the  peculiar  conception  of 
God.     The  official  doctrine  remained  as  in  Thomas, 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      471 

i.e.  returned  to  the  "figurant,  continent  et  confer- 
unt"  (Florentine  council).  It  thereby  holds  good  that 
the  sacraments,  differing  from  those  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  which  faith  (opus  operandi)  was  necessary, 
work  "ex  opere  operato"  (thus  already  the  Lom- 
bard) ;  that  is,  the  effect  flows  from  the  administra- 
tion as  such.  The  attempt  of  the  Scotists  to  place 
the  sacraments  of  the  Old  Testament  on  an  equality 
with  those  of  the  New  was  repudiated. 

In  detail,  the  following  points  of  the  Thomistic  DocSneof 
doctrine  are  still  especially  important:  (1)  In  genere      mSS". 
the  sacraments  are  altogether  necessary  to  salvation, 
in  specie  this  is  in  the  strictest  sense  valid  only  of 
baptism   (otherwise  the  rule  holds  good;  "non  de- 
fectus  sed  contemptus  damnat").     (2)  In  genere  the 
sacraments  must  have  a  three-fold  effect,  a  signifi-  ThEfftct.ld 
cant  (sacrament urn),  a  preparative   (sacr amentum 
et  res) ,  and  a  redemptive  (res  sacramenti) ;  in  specie, 
however,  the  preparative  effect,  the  character,  can  be 
proved  only  in  baptism,  confirmation  and  the  ordo. 
Through  these  the  "  character  of  Christ",  as  capacity 
for  the  receptio  et  traditio  cultus  dei,  is  implanted 
in  the  potency  of  the  soul  indelebiliter,  and  is  there- 
fore not  capable  of  repetition    (stamping  it,  as  it 
were) ;  (3)   In  the  definite  discussion  of  the  question,   Form  Must 
"quid  sit  sacr  amentum" ,  it  was  determined  that   qJJ™^ 
the  same  is  not  only  a  holy  but  also  a  sanctifying 
sign;   moreover  that  the  cause  of  sanctification  is 
the  suffering  of  Christ,  the  form  consisting  in  the 
communicated  grace  and  virtues,  and  the  aim  being 


472       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


ments 
Proven 


Duplica- 
tion  of 
Salvation 


eternal  life.  The  sacrament  must  always  be  a  res 
sensibilisa  deo  determinates  (material  of  the  sacra- 
ment), and  it  is  "very  becoming",  that  "words"  also 
go  with  it,  "  quibus  verba  incarnato  quodammodo 
conformantur" .  These  verba  a  deo  determinata 
(form  of  sacrament)  must  be  strictly  observed,  an 
unintentional  lapsus  linguae  even  does  not  allow  the 
sacrament  to  become  perfect ;  of  course  it  is  rendered 
void  as  soon  as  one  does  not  intend  to  do  what  the 
o^saS  Church  does;  (4)  The  necessity  of  the  sacraments 
is  proved  by  "  quodammodo  applicant  passionem 
Christi  hominibus",  in  so  far  as  they  "  congrua 
gratiae  praesentialiter  demonstrandae  sunt  " ;  (5) 
By  the  effect  (character  and  gratia)  it  is  argued  that 
in  the  sacrament  to  the  general  gratia  virtutem  et 
donorum  is  still  added  "  quoddam  divinum  auxilium 
ad  consequendum  sacramenti  fine?n" ;  that  as  well 
in  verbis  as  in  rebus  there  is  contained  an  instru- 
mental virtus  ad  inducemdam  gratiam.  By  de- 
termining the  relationship  between  sacramental  grace 
and  the  passio  Christi  it  is  plainly  discernible  that 
the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  is  nothing 
else  than  a  doubling  of  the  salvation  through  Christ. 
Since  they  conceived  grace  physically,  yet  were  un- 
able to  join  this  physical  grace  directly  to  the  death 
of  Christ,  i.e.  deduce  it  from  the  latter,  another  in- 
strumentum  separatum  (the  sacraments),  in  addition 
to  the  instrumentum  conjunctum  (Jesus),  had  still 
to  be  ascribed  to  God  the  Redeemer.  But  if  one  can 
obtain  such  an  understanding  of  the  life  and  death 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      473 

of  Christ,  that  it  of  itself  appears  as  grace  and  sac- 
rament, then  the  doubling  is  useless  and  harmful ;  (G) 
By  determining  the  causa  sacramentorum  it  follows  Au°horhthe 
that  God  is  the  Author,  but  the  priest,  as  minister,  iStra- e 
the  "  causa  instrumental! 's" '.  Everything  which  is 
de  necessitate  sacramenti  (therefore  not  the  prayers 
of  the  priests,  etc.)  must  have  been  instituted  by 
Christ  himself  (appeal  to  tradition,  while  Hugo  and 
the  Lombard  still  deduced  some  sacraments  from  the 
apostles ;  with  some  this  latter  continued  until  the  16th 
century ;  the  apostles  cannot  have  been  institutores 
sacramenti  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word ;  even  to 
Christ  as  man  was  due  only  the  potestas  ministerii 
principalis  sen  excelentiae;  he  works  meritorie  et 
efficienter  and  could  have  transferred  this  extraordi- 
nary potestas  ministerii,  which  however  he  did 
not  do) ;  bad  priests  also  can  validly  administer  the 
sacraments ;  they  need  to  have  the  intentio  only,  not 
the  fides;  but  they  incur  a  mortal  sin .  Even  heretics 
can  transmit  the  sacramentum,  but  not  the  res  sac- 
ramenti. 

These  doctrines  of  Thomas  are  lacking  in  due  re-  opusoper- 

atum  Em- 

gard  for  faith  and  pass  lightly  over  the  question  re-  prized, 
garding  the  conditions  of  the  salutary  reception. 
With  the  nominalists  this  question,  together  with  that 
of  the  relation  of  grace  and  sacrament  (see  above)  and 
that  of  the  minister,  became  most  important  in  the 
case  of  each  separate  sacrament,  and  they  came  to  the 
decision  to  allow  the  factor  of  merit  to  encroach  up- 
on that  of  the  sacraments  and  of  grace,  at  the  same 


474       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

time,  however,  they  conceived  of  the  conditions  of  the 

merit  in  a  looser  way  and  emphasized  more  strongly 

the  opus  operatum.     On  the  whole  they  dissolved 

the  whole  of  Thomism.     They  desired  here  also  to 

apprehend  the  doctrine  more  spiritually  and  ethically ; 

in  truth  they  fell  into  a  disgraceful  casuistry  and 

favored  justification  by  works  and  likewise  the  magic 

Question    0f  the  sacraments.     That  some  disposition  was  nee- 
Regarding 

DtionSi"  essary  to  a  salutary  reception  all  assumed,  but  the 
question  was  wherein  it  consisted  and  what  value 
it  should  have.  Some  saw  in  it  no  positive  condi- 
tioning of  sacramental  grace,  but  merely  a  conditio 
sine  qua  non;  they  did  not  think  of  it  as  worthiness 
and,  therefore,  declared  roundly  that  the  sacraments 
were  effective  only  ex  opere  operato  (the  disposition 
is  necessary,  but  has  no  causal  importance).  Others 
— they  were  not  numerous — declared  that  the  sacra- 
ments can  procure  grace  only  when  inward  repent- 
ance and  faith  exist;  these,  however,  are  caused 
by  God  as  interiores  motus,  so  that  no  justification 
ex  opere  operante  can  be  assumed ;  the  sacraments 
only  announce  the  inward  work  of  God  (preparing 
the  way  for  the  Reformation  point  of  view) .  Others 
still,  who  gained  the  upper  hand,  taught  that  re- 
demptive grace  is  a  product  of  the  sacraments  and  of 
penitent  faith,  so  that  the  sacrament  itself  only  ele- 
vates above  the  death-point,  in  order  to  co-operate  at 
once  with  the  inner  disposition.  Here  the  question 
first  became  important,  what  then  the  disposition 
should  be  (repentance  and  faith),  in  order  to  allow 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      475 


Duns1 
Vitiated 
Concep- 
tion. 


the  sacrament  to  have  its  full  effect.  First  of  all  til^?f  yj"ew 
they  answered  with  Augustine,  that  the  receiver  Forward. 
must  not  "  obicem  contrariae  cogitationis  oppo- 
nere".  Therefrom  the  older  theologians  had  inferred 
that  a  bonus  motus  interior  must  exist;  indeed  they 
also  conceived  this  already  as  a  merit ;  for  a  mini- 
mum of  merit  (against  Augustine)  certainly  always 
must  exist,  if  grace  is  to  be  imparted.  Duns  and 
his  pupils  however  taught — a  vicious  corruption  of  a 
correct  idea — that  the  glory  of  the  New  Testament 
sacraments  consists  in  not  requiring,  like  the  earlier, 
a  bonus  motus  as  a  pre-supposition,  but  rather  only 
the  absence  of  a  motus  contrarius  malus  (contempt 
of  the  sacraments,  positive  unbelief).  Without  the 
sacraments  grace  can  be  effective  only  where  there- 
exists  some  worthiness ;  sacramental  grace,  however, 
is  also  effective  where  there  is  tabula  rasa  (as  if 
such  a  thing  exists !) ;  yonder  is  a  meritum  de  con- 
gruo  requisite,  here  "solum  requiritur  opus  exte- 
rius  cum  amotione  interioris  impediments .  But 
where  this  appears  mere  obedient  submission  to  the 
consummation  of  the  sacrament  becomes  for  the  re- 
ceiver a  meritum  de  co7igruo,  and  therewith  the 
process  of  salvation  begins,  which,  while  the  sacra- 
mental collations  increase,  can  finally  be  finished 
without  the  subjects  ever  overstepping  the  limits  of 
the  meritum  de  congruo,  that  is,  of  a  certain  merit 
which  may  exist  without  real  inner  faith  and  love. 
Sacramental  grace  transforms  ex  opere  operato  the 
attritio    into    contritio   and   thereby  furnishes  a 


Meritum 

de 
Congruo. 


476        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

supplement  to  the  incomplete  merits,  rendering  them 
complete.  Upon  the  steps  of  inner  emotions,  which 
are  constantly  supplemented  by  the  sacraments  and 
are  wholly  vain,  even  irreligious  (fear  of  punish- 
ment, dread  of  hell,  powerless  dissatisfaction  with 
one's  self),  the  soul  rises  to  God:  " attritio  super- 
veniente  sacramento  virtute  clavium  efficitur  suf- 
ficiens".  Here  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  is 
subordinated  to  the  worst  form  of  a  Pelagian  doc- 
trine of  justification  (see  below). 
Baptism.  j7ie  ßeparafe  Sacraments.  1.  Baptism  (mate- 
rial: Water;  form:  Institutional  words).  This  has 
reference  to  hereditary  sin.  Baptism  blots  out  such 
guilt  and  that  of  all  hitherto  committed  sins,  remits 
the  punishment  (not  however  earthly  punishments) 
and  regulates  the  concupiscence;  that  is,  the  idea 
of  an  innocent  concupiscence  is  allowed  (not  a  re- 
ligious view)  and  it  is  declared  that  baptism  ren- 
ders a  man  able  to  keep  his  concupiscence  within 
bounds.  The  positive  effect  of  baptism  was  placed 
under  the  head  of  "  regeneratio "  without  ridding 
this  conception  of  the  obscurity  and  lack  of  meaning 
which  it  has  in  the  Church  fathers.  In  theory  it 
was  asserted  that  the  positive  grace  of  baptism  was 
perfectissima,  and  children  also  received  it  (sacra- 
ment of  justification  in  the  full  sense) ;  but  in  fact 
it  was  only  conceived  as  a  sacrament  of  initiation, 
and  only  in  this  sense  could  the  perfectness  of  infant 
baptism  (belief  of  the  Church,  or  of  good  parents  as 
substitutes)  be  sustained:   Baptism   establishes  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      47? 

process  of  justification  only  in  habitu,  not  in  actu. 
In  case  of  necessity  a  deacon  also,  yes  a  layman, 
may  baptize.  Detailed  explanations  concerning  sac- 
ramental observances  were  made  based  upon  a  com- 
parison with  baptism. 

2.  Confirmation   (material:   The  chrisma  conse-    Co^nma" 
crated  by  the  bishop ;  form :  Consigno  te,  etc.) .     The 

effect  of  this  sacrament,  which  like  baptism  cannot 
be  repeated,  was  to  give  power  for  growth,  strength 
to  fight,  the  gratia  gratum  faciens  in  the  process  of 
justification.  Only  the  bishop  could  administer  it ; 
it  gained  its  significance  as  a  sacrament  of  the  epis- 
copal hierarchy  alongside  of  the  ordo;  still  on  the 
whole  its  significance  resided  only  in  the  "  character". 
Doubts  regarding  the  sacrament  never  died  out  in  the 
Middle  Ages  ( Wiclif) .  Beginning  with  Thomas  it 
was  brought  very  close  to  the  power  of  the  pope,  since 
it  had  special  reference  to  the  mystical  body  of  Christ 
(the  Church ;  not  to  the  sacramental  body)  and  ac- 
cordingly the  power  of  jurisdiction  came  into  consid- 
eration. 

3.  Eucharist  (material:  The  elements ;  form :  The  Eucharist, 
institutional   words).      The   Thomist   doctrine   here 
gained  a  complete  victory  as  against  the  attempt  of 

the  nominalist  to  shake  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation;  but  the  "heretical"  opposition  to  this  doc- 
trine did  not  cease  in  the  Middle  Ages  after  the 
Lateran  council  (vid.  p.  426).  Realism  is  the  presup- 
position of  the  orthodox  theory ;  without  this  it  col- 
lapses.    Everything  that  is  sublime  was  said  about 


478       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

the  eucharist;  but  faith,  which  seeks  surety,  went 
empty-handed,  and  yet  the  sacrament  of  penance  as 
sacrament  and  as  sacrifice  was  finally  far  superior 
to  the  eucharist :  Masses  are  trifling  means,  and  the 
spiritual  food  blots  out  no  mortal  sins.  The  great 
theological  problem  was  transubstantiation  itself,  and 
by  reason  of  its  greatness  they  overlooked  the  insig- 
DoctrSe.  nificance  of  its  effect.  Thomas  gave  form  to  the  doc- 
trine regarding  the  mode  of  the  presence  of  the  body 
of  Christ  in  the  sacrament  (no  new  creation,  no  as- 
sumptio  elementorum  so  that  they  become  body,  no 
consubstantiality) ;  the  substance  of  the  elements 
disappears  entirely,  but  not  per  annihilationem, 
yet  per  conversionem;  the  existence  of  the  remain- 
ing unsubstantial  accidents  of  the  elements  is  made 
possible  by  the  direct  working  of  God ;  the  body  of 
Christ  enters  totus  in  toto;  in  each  of  the  elements 
is  the  whole  Christ,  to  wit :  per  concomitantiam  as 
regard  his  body  and  soul  as  well  as  regards  his  Di- 
vinity from  the  moment  of  pronouncing  the  insti- 
tutional words  (therefore  also  extra  usum) ;  the  pres- 
ence of  Christ  in  the  elements  has  no  dimensions, 
but  how  this  was  to  be  conceived  became  a  primary 
problem  for  which  Thomas  and  the  nominalistic 
writers  summoned  absurd  and  ingenious  theories 
of  space.  They  thereby  approached  very  closely 
either  to  the  idea  of  the  annihilation  of  the  primary 
Duns.  substance  (Duns),  or  to  consubstantiality  and  "im- 
occam.  panation"  (Occam);  they  hit  upon  the  latter  be- 
cause their  metaphysics  in  general  only  admitted 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE  OF   SIN,  ETC.      479 

the  idea  that  the  Divine  and  the  created  accompany 
each  other  by  virtue  of  Divine  adjustment  (similarly 
Wesel,  and  with  other  motives  Luther).  The  con- 
sequences of  the  formulation  of  the  doctrine  of  tran-  u££?esse"of 
substantiation  were,  (1)  Cessation  of  infant  commun-  ^on"1?" 
ion  (this  had  also  other  causes) ,  (2)  Increase  of  the 
authority  of  the  priests,  (3)  Withdrawal  of  the  chalice 
(determined  upon  at  Constance),  (4)  Adoration  of  the 
elevated  host  (feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  1264,  1311). 
Against  the  last  two  results  there  arose  in  the  14th  and 
15th  centuries  considerable  opposition. — In  regard  to  Repetition 
the  representation  of  the  eucharist  as  a  sacrifice,  the  fice- 
Lombard  was  still  influenced  by  the  old  ecclesiastical 
motive  of  the  recordatio;  however,  the  idea  of  the 
repetition  of  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  confirmed 
by  Gregory  I.,  crept  in  more  and  more  (Hugo,  Al- 
bertus; Thomas  really  justifies  the  theory  only  by 
the  practice  of  the  Church)  and  modified  also  the 
canon  of  the  mass  (Lateran  council,  1215).  The 
priest  was  considered  the  sacerdos  corporis  Christi. 
The  attacks  of  Wiclif  and  others  upon  this  entirely 
unbiblical  conception  died  away;  during  the  14th 
and  15th  centuries  one  really  fought  only  against  the 
abuses. 

4.  Penance  (great  controversy  over  the  material,  Penance, 
since  no  res  corporalis  exists)  is  on  the  whole  the 
chief  sacrament,  because  it  alone  restores  the  lost 
baptismal  grace.  The  theory  remained  yet  for  a  long 
time  shy  of  the  hierarchical  practice,  which  had  been 
expressed  in   the   pseudo-Augustinian  writing,  "de 


480       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OP  DOGMA. 

vera  et  falsa  paenitentia" .  The  Lombard  still  con- 
sidered the  true  penitence  of  a  Christian  in  itself 
sacramental,  and  the  priestly  absolution  merely  de- 
clarative (ecclesiastical  act) ;  for  God  alone  pardons 
Lateran     sin.     Hugo  and  the  Lateran  council,  1215,  prepared 

Council.  . 

the  way  for  Thomas.  The  latter  recognized  the  ma- 
terial of  the  sacrament  in  the  visible  act  of  the  pen- 
itent, the  form  in  the  priest's  words  of  absolution, 
declared  that  the  priests  as  authorized  ministers  are 

Doctrine  dispensers  in  the  fullest  sense,  and  gave  as  a  reason 
for  the  necessity  of  sacramental  penance  (before 
the  priest)  the  perverse  sentence :  "  Ex  quo  aliquis 
peccatum  (mortal  sin)  incurrit,  Caritas,  fides  et 
misericordia  non  liberant  hominem  a  peccato  sine 
paenitentia" .  However,  he  added  that  the  sacra- 
mental absolution  did  not  at  once  take  away  the 
reatus  totius  poenae  together  with  the  guilt  of  the 
mortal  sin,  but  that  it  only  disappeared  "  completis 
omnibus  paenitentiae  actibus".  The  three  partes 
paenitentiae — already  formulated  by  the  Lombard 
as  contritio  cordis,  confessio  oris,  satisfactio 
operis — were  originally  not  considered  of  equal  value. 
The  inner  perfect  penitence  was  considered  res  and 
sacramentum,  and  still  dominated  with  the  Lombard 
and  Thomas  the  whole  representation.     Yet  already 

Haiesius,    Alexander  Halesius  and  Bonaventura  were  of  the 

Bonaven- 
tura,      opinion   that  God  precisely  by  the  sacrament  had 

facilitated  the  way  to  salvation,  and  they  discrim- 
inated between  contritio  and  attritio  (timor  ser- 
vilis) ,  declaring  the  latter  sufficient  for  admission  to 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      481 


the  sacrament.  In  spite  of  its  silent  rejection  by 
Thomas  this  view  gained  more  and  more  ground: 
The  sacrament  itself  will  perfect  the  half -penitence 
by  the  Infusio  gratiae.  The  attritio,  gallows- 
repentance,  became  the  bane  of  the  Church  doctrine 
in  the  14th  and  15th  centuries  (Johann  von  Palltz, 
Petrus  de  Palude  and  others ;  Dieckhoff ,  Der  Ablass- 
streit, 1886) ;  the  Tridentine  council  sanctioned  it 
only  conditionally.  It  was  well  known  that  the  at- 
tritio  often  springs  from  immoral  motives  and  yet 
they  built  out  of  it  and  the  sacraments  steps  up  to 
heaven. — Thomas  is  the  theologian  of  the  confessio 
oris;  he  placed  the  obligation  thereto  under  the  jus 
divinum,  stated  for  the  first  time  exactly  the  extent 
of  the  new  ordinance  and  deduced  the  sole  right  of  the 
ecclesiastic  to  hear  confessions  from  the  minister- 
ium  super  corpus  Christi  verum  (in  case  of  need  one 
should  confess  to  a  layman,  such  confession,  however, 
is,  according  to  Thomas,  no  longer  sacramental). 
The  Scotists  essentially  accepted  all  this. — The  sole 
right  of  the  priest  to  grant  absolution  was  also  first 
strictly  brought  to  an  issue  by  Thomas.  However, 
upon  this  sacrament  the  power  of  jurisdiction  exerted 
an  influence  (reservance  of  cases  for  the  pope).  Ac- 
cording to  the  Scotists  the  priest  by  absolution  sim- 
ply induces  God  to  fulfil  his  contract ;  according  to 
Thomas  he  acts  independently  through  the  trans- 
mitted pot  est  as  ministerii. — By  imposing  a  satis- 
f  actio  the  priest  acts  as  medicus  peritus  et  judex 

aequus.     The  practice  is  an  old  one,  the  "  mechanis- 
31 


Gallows- 
Repent- 
ance. 


Confessio 

Oris : 
Thomas. 


Absolu- 
tion: 
Thomas. 


Medicus 
Peritus. 


482      OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

ing  "  and  the  theoretical  rating  (alongside  the  con- 
tritio  as  a  part  of  the  penance)  is  comparatively 
new.  The  idea  is  that  the  satis f  actio,  as  a  constit- 
uent part  of  the  sacrament,  is  the  necessary  manifes- 
tation of  repentance  in  such  works  as  are  fitted  to  give 
a  certain  satisfaction  to  an  offended  God,  and  which 
become  the  motive  for  the  shortening  of  temporal 
punishment.  In  baptism  God  pardons  without  any 
satisfaction,  but  of  those  baptized  he  demands  a  cer- 
tain satisfaction,  which  then  as  merit  reverts  to  him 
who  renders  it.  Moreover  the  baptized  is  really 
able  to  render  it ;  it  also  contributes  to  his  ref orma- 
Meritori-    tion  and  protects  him  against  sin.     Meritorious  are 

ous  Works.  r  ° 

only  such  acts  as  are  done  in  a  state  of  grace  {in 
caritate,  hence  after  absolution),  but  the  works 
(prayer,  fasting,  alms)  of  those  who  are  not  in  cari- 
tate  also  have  a  certain  merit.  Thus  finally  attritio 
and  imperfect  meritorious  works  dominate  the  whole 
territory  of  penance,  that  is  of  ecclesiastical  life, 
fences  ^u^  ^ie  scholastics  admitted  also  in  practice  the 

idea  of  the  personal  exchange  of  satisfactions  and  of 
personal  substitution.  This  led  to  the  doctrine  of 
indulgences  (Bratke,  Luther's  95  Theses,  1884. 
Schneider,  Die  Ablässe,  7.  Aufl.,  1881).  The  indul- 
gence joins  on  to  the  satisfaction  i.e.  also  to  the 
attritio.  In  theory  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
reatus  culpae  et  poenae  aeternae;  still  in  practice 
it  was  not  seldom  joined  with  the  latter  (even  the 
Tridentine  council  here  complained  of  abuses) .  The 
indulgence  rests  upon  the  idea  of  commutation  and 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      483 


its  purpose  was  to  ameliorate,  i.e.  to  abolish  the  tem- 
poral punishment  of  sin,  above  all  the  punishment 
of  purgatory.  Through  absolution  hell  was  closed;  Abc?oses°n 
but  the  homines  attriti  in  reality  neither  believe  in  HelL 
hell  nor  in  the  power  of  grace,  for  only  a  contritus 
knows  anything  of  such  things.  But  they  are  afraid 
of  severe  punishment,  and  they  believe  in  the  possi- 
bility of  removing  it  by  various  "  doings",  and  are 
even  ready  for  some  sacrifice  for  this  end.  Thus  pur- 
gatory was  hell  to  them  and  the  indulgence  became 
a  sacrament.  To  these  feelings  the  Church  in  real- 
ity yielded;  attritio,  opera  and  indulgentia  became 
in  truth  parts  of  the  sacrament  of  penance.  Thomas  T^mas' 
still  endeavored  throughout  to  bring  about  a  com- 
promise between  the  earnest  theory  and  the  evil 
practice,  which  he  was  unable  to  uproot  ("  ab  omnibus 
conceditur  indulgentias  aliquid  valere,  quia  im- 
pium  esset  dicere,  quod  ecclesiae  aliquid  vane 
faceret") .  With  him  the  indulgences  had  not  yet 
become  a  mockery  of  Christianity  as  the  religion  of 
redemption,  because  he  really  conceives  them  only  as 
an  annex  to  the  sacrament.  Yet  he  abandoned  the 
old  idea  that  the  indulgence  has  reference  only  to 
the  ecclesiastical  punishment  imposed  by  the  priest; 
and  it  was  he  who  handed  down  the  theory  of  in- 
dulgences. The  latter  is  composed  of  two  ideas:  (1)  T^S-of 
Pardoned  sin  also  continues  to  have  an  effect  through  gei 
its  temporal  consequences,  still  it  cannot  remain  "  in- 
ordinata",  and  therefore  the  temporal  punishment 
must  be  expiated ;  (2)  Christ  by  his  passion  has  ac- 


484       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

complished  greater  things  than  the  blotting  out  of 
eternal  guilt  and  punishment ;  this  alone  is  effective 
within  the  sacrament,  i.e.  in  the  absolution;  but 
outside  of  it  there  is  a  surplus.  This  surplus  merit 
(thesaurus  operum  super  er  ogatorior  urn)  must  of 
necessity  benefit  the  body  of  Christ,  the  Church, 
since  it  cannot  benefit  Christ  and  the  saints. 

But  it  can  no  longer  find  any  other  occupation  than 
that  of  shortening  and  blotting  out  the  temporal 
punishment  of  sin.  It  can  be  turned  only  to  the 
benefit  of  those  absolved,  who  must  regularly  offer 
in  return  a  minimum  (a  small  performance) ;  it  is 
administered  by  the  head  of  the  Church,  the  pope, 
who  however  can  transfer  to  others  a  partial  admin- 
Theor^  of  istration.  This  theory  of  surplus  merits,  which  had 
Merits.  a  jong  pr jor  history  (Persians,  Jews) ,  became  espe- 
cially pernicious  when  no  decisive  weight  was  placed 
upon  the  condition  of  repentant  faith,  or  when  dark- 
ness was  intentionally  permitted  to  rest  upon  the 
question  as  to  what  it  really  was  that  was  blotted 
out  by  the  indulgence,  or  when  the  question,  as  to 
whether  the  indulgence  would  not  also  be  of  benefit 
to  committers  of  mortal  sin  ad  requirendam  gra- 
tiam,  was  answered  in  the  affirmative  as  was  like- 
wise the  question  whether  therefore  it  could  not  be 
granted  in  advance,  in  order  that  one  might  make 
use  of  it  for  an  occasional  disposition  (Scotistic  prac- 
tice). The  theorj^of  indulgences  is  comprised  in  the 
*£££"  bul1'  "  Vnigenitus",  Clement  IV.,  of  the  year  1349; 
here  it  is  also  stated  that  the  indulgence  has  refer- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      485 

ence  only  to  the  "  vere  paenitentes  et  confessi". 
Wiclif  above  all  disputed  the  practice  and  theory; 
he  called  the  indulgences  arbitrary  and  blasphemous, 
paralyzing  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God,  a  nefa- 
rious innovation.  But  indulgence  was  not  yet  un- 
hinged, when  one  proved  it  to  be  unbiblical,  the 
usurpation  of  the  hierarchy  and  a  moral  corrup- 
tion. One  must  show  how  a  dormant  conscience  is 
to  be  awakened,  a  disturbed  one  to  be  comforted. 
But  neither  Wiclif  nor  the  other  energetic  contestors      wiciif, 

Huss, 

of  indulgences  (Huss,  Wesel,  etc.)  were  able  to  do  wessei. 
this.  Wessei  alone  attacked  indulgences  at  the  root, 
for  he  not  only  taught  that  the  keys  were  given  alone 
to  the  pious  (not  to  the  pope  and  the  priests),  and 
also  pointed  out  that  forgiveness  does  not  depend  up- 
on arbitrariness,  but  upon  true  penitence ;  moreover, 
that  the  temporal  punishments  for  sin  serve  for 
man's  education  and  therefore  cannot  be  exchanged. 
He  also  doubted  the  satisf actio  operum:  Satisf ac- 
tio has  no  place  anyhow  where  God  has  infused 
his  love;  it  would  detract  from  the  work  of  Christ 
(the  gratia  gratis  data).  And  yet  indulgences, 
which  had  also  been  approved  at  Constance,  pre- 
vailed about  1500  more  than  ever;  people  knew  them 
to  be  "  abusus  quaestorum",  and  yet  made  use  of 
them. 

5.  Extreme  unction   (material:   Consecrated  oil;     oration! 
form:  A  deprecatory  word  of  prayer).     Thomas  as- 
serted its  institution  by  Christ,  its  promulgation  by 
James  (Epist.  5  :  14).    The  purpose  of  this  sacrament, 


480       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OE  DOGMA. 

which  admits  of  repetition,  is  the  remissio  pecca- 
torum,  yet  only  of  the  venial.  As  this  sacrament 
was  evolved  only  because  of  the  need  of  the  dying, 
it  was  also  left  to  practice.  Theory  had  little  in- 
terest in  it. 

oration  G>  Ordination  of  priests  (from  the  impossibil- 
ity of  proving  a  perceptible  material  by  the  side 
of  the  form:  " Accipe  potestatem,  etc.", — however, 
one  also  thought  of  vessels  of  worship  or  of  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  and  symbols, — Thomas  knew  how  to 

Thomas'    make  capital :  "  Hoc  quod  confertur  in  aliis  sacra- 

Doctrine.  r  *  J 

mentis  derivatur  tantum  a  deo,  non  a  ministro, 
qui  sacramentum  dispensat,  sed  Mud  quod  in  hoc 
sacramento  traditur,  seil,  spiritualis  potestas, 
derivatur  etiam  ab  eo,  qui  sacramentum  dat,  sicut 
potestas  imperfecta  a  perfecta;  et  ideo  efficacia 
aliorum  sacramentorum  principaliter  consistit 
in  materia,  quae  virtutem  divinam  et  significat 
et  continet.  .  .  .  ,  sed  efficacia  hujus  sacramenti 
principaliter  residet  penes  eum,  qui  sacramentum 
dispensat").      The  bishop   alone  is  the  dispenser. 

PconSoin  Controversies  arose,  (1)  Eegardingthe  seven  ordina- 
tions and  their  relation  to  each  other,  (2)  Kegarding 
the  relationship  between  the  priest's  and  the  bishop's 
ordination,  (3)  Regarding  the  validity  of  ordina- 
tions conferred  by  schismatical  or  heretical  bishops 
(question  of  reordination;  the  Lombard  was  in  favor 
of  the  stricter  practice,  which  however  jeopardized 

chapter.  the  entire  existence  of  the  priesthood).  Character 
was  really  the  chief  effect  of  this  sacrament.     The 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      487 

episcopate  could,  on  account  of  the  old  tradition,  no 
longer  be  counted  as  a  special  ordo;  but  there  was 
an  endeavor  to  vindicate  its  higher  position  as  being 
especially  instituted  by  Christ  (on  the  ground  of 
jurisdictional  power) ;  Duns,  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  real  circumstances,  desired  to  acknowledge 
a  separate  sacrament  in  the  consecration  of  a  bishop. 

7.  Matrimony  (material  and  form :  The  consent  of  Jjjj" 
those  about  to  be  married).  As  with  the  former 
sacrament,  so  also  with  this,  every  provable  redemp- 
tive effect  was  wanting ;  but  it  was  here  still  more 
difficult  to  carry  out  at  all  the  general  doctrine  of 
the  sacraments.  The  treating  of  marriage  as  a  sac- 
rament was  already  with  Thomas  a  chain  of  difficul- 
ties ;  in  reality  ecclesiastical  law  was  alone  concerned 
with  it.  There  were  painful  deductions  concerning 
the  import  of  the  copula  carnalis  for  the  sacrament ; 
the  priestly  benediction  was  considered  only  "  quod 
dam  sacramentale" . 

In  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  Thomas  was  the  DJct0r™eSOf 
authoritative  doctor ;  his  doctrines  were  confirmed  by  mentsacon"- 

fir  mod  by 

Eugene  IV. ;  but  in  so  far  as  they  were  subordinated  Eugene  iv. 
to  the  doctrine  of  merits,  a  different  spirit,  the  Scotis- 
tic,  gradually  entered  into  all  dogmatics.  Thomas 
himself  even  was  obliged  to  emphasize  the  vulgar 
Catholic  elements  of  Augustinianism,  since  he  fol- 
lowed the  practice  of  the  Church  in  his  Summa. 
Later  theologians  went  even  much  farther.  The  janlEfü?* 
dissolving  of  Augustinianism    into   dogmatics  did       into 

Dogmatics. 

not  really  take  place  from  without ;  it  was  largely 


488       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

the  result  of  an  inward  development.  The  three 
elements,  which  Augustine  permitted  to  stand  in  and 
by  the  side  of  his  doctrine  of  grace,  merit,  the  gratia 
infusa  and  the  hierarchical  priestly  element,  con- 
tinued to  work  until  they  had  completely  trans- 
formed the  Augustinian  mode  of  thought. 

C.     The  Revising    of    Augustinianism   in  the 
Direction  of  the  Doctrine  of  Merits. 


Lombard 
Repeats 
Augus- 
tine's 

Teaching. 


Anselm, 
Bernard, 
Abelard. 


Religious 
View  Sup- 
planted by 
Empirical. 


No  ecclesiastical  theologian  had  directly  denied 
that  grace  is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  religion, 
but  since  the  idea,  "grace",  is  in  itself  ambiguous — 
God  himself  in  Christ,  a  mysterious  quality,  love(?) 
— it  could  also  be  made  subservient  to  different 
views.  The  Lombard,  in  regard  to  grace,  predestina- 
tion and  justification,  exactly  repeated  the  Augus- 
tinian sentences,  but  concerning  free-will  he  ex- 
pressed himself  no  longer  in  an  Augustinian,  but  in 
a  semi-Pelagian  fashion,  because  he  also  had  merit 
in  mind.  With  Anselm,  Bernard  and  above  all 
Abelard  a  contradiction  between  the  doctrine  of 
grace  and  of  freedom  can  be  verified,  since  all  were 
governed  by  the  thought  which  the  Lombard  formu- 
lated thus :  "  nullum  meritum  est  in  homine,  quod 
non  fit  per  liberum  arbitrium".  Therefore  the 
ratio  and  the  power  of  the  will  for  good  must  have 
remained  unto  man  after  the  fall.  The  religious 
view  of  Augustine  is  replaced  by  the  empirical,  and 
even  Bernard  failed  to  mark  Augustine's  discrimi- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      489 

nation  between  formal  and  material  freedom.  Nota- 
ble is  the  attempt  of  the  Lombard  to  identify  sancti- 
fying grace  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  However,  this 
had  no  consequences ;  they  did  not  want  God  him- 
self, but  Divine  attributes,  which  can  become  human 
virtues. 

From  God  to  God  through  grace  was  the  funda-     Habitual 

ö      ö  Virtue. 

mental  thought  of  Thomas,  and  yet  finally  it  is  hab- 
itual virtue  at  which  he  aims.  The  fundamental 
fault  lay  already  in  the  Augustinian  discrimination 
between  gratia  operans  and  cooperans.  The  latter 
alone  procures  bliss,  but  it  cooperates  with  the  will 
and  together  they  cause  merit.  Merits,  however, 
are  the  essential  point,  since  the  theologian  can  have 
no  other  conception  than  that  God  values  a  reforma- 
tion only  when  indicated  by  the  habitus.  But  this 
is  not  the  standpoint  of  religion:  faith  thus  becomes    Faith  Be- 

r  °  '  comes  au 

merely  an  act  of  initiation,  and  God  does  not  appear  A<taSon?u" 

as  the  almighty  Love  and  therefore  as  the  Rock  of 

Salvation,  but  as  the  Partner  and  Judge;   he  does 

not  appear  as  the  personal  Good,  which  as  Father 

is  alone  able  to  lead  the  soul  to  trust,  but  as  the 

Giver  of  material,  perhaps   very   exalted   blessings 

(communication  of  his  nature) .     These  theologians, 

if  they  thought  of  God,  did  not  look  upon  the  heart 

of  the   almighty  Father,  but  upon  an  unfathomable     Theoio- 

0      ^  7  x  gians  Lose 

Being,  who,  having  created  the  world  out  of  noth-    pefSonoff 
ing,  likewise  also  causes  superabundant  powers  of 
knoivledge,  reformation  and  substantial  transfor- 
mation to  go  forth.    And  when  they  thought  of  them- 


400       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Thomas 
Hakes  Law 

and  Grace 
Basal. 


Lumen 
(iratiae 
is  also 
Lumen 
Buperad- 
ditum. 


selves,  they  did  not  think  of  the  centre  of  the  human 
ego,  the  spirit,  which  is  so  free  and  exalted  that  it 
gains  a  hold  only  upon  a  divine  Person  and  not 
upon  the  most  glorious  gifts ;  they  taught :  God  and 
the  gratia  instead  of  personal  communion  with 
God,  who  is  the  gratia.  In  the  beginning  indeed 
God  and  the  gratia  (power  of  love)  lay  very  close 
together  in  their  minds,  but  in  the  carrying  out  of 
the  thought  the  gratia  was  more  and  more  with- 
drawn from  God,  until  one  finds  it  in  magic- working 
idols.  The  double  thought,  "natura  divina"  and 
"bonum  esse",  was  the  ruling  one:  Physics  and 
morality,  but  not  religion. 

Thomas  made  law  and  grace,  as  the  outer  princi- 
ples of  moral  conduct,  his  basis.  The  former,  even 
as  new  law,  was  not  sufficient.  The  necessity  of 
grace  therefore  was  proved,  partly  by  Aristotelian 
means.  At  the  same  time  the  intellectualism  of 
Thomas  comes  out  strongly :  Grace  is  the  communi- 
cation of  supernatural  knowledge.  The  lumen  gra- 
tiae,  however,  is  also  the  lumen  super additum,  that 
is,  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  accomplishing  of  the 
aim  of  man,  but  for  the  reaching  over  and  beyond 
this ;  therefore  it  furnishes  the  reason  also  with  a 
supernatural  worth,  i.e.  sl  merit.  Man  in  the  state 
of  integrity  possesses  accordingly  the  capability  of 
doing  by  his  own  strength  the  bonum  suae  naturae 
proportionatum,  yet  he  needs  the  Divine  aid  in 
order  to  acquire  a  meritorious  bonum  super excedens. 
After  the  fall,  however,  grace  was  necessary  for  both ; 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      491 

accordingly  a  two-fold  grace  is  now  needed.  Thereby 
the  difference  between  gratia  operans  et  cooperans 
was  already  established,  and  at  the  same  time  there 
was  taken  into  view  as  the  end  of  man  a  supernatural 
state,  which  one  may  reach  only  by  the  aid  of  the 
second  grace,  which  creates  merits.    "  Vita  aeterna     Eternal 

Life  to  be 

est  finis  excedens  proportionem  naturae  hu-  Earned- 
manae",  but  with  the  help  of  grace  one  can  and 
must  earn  eternal  life.  Yet  Thomas,  as  a  strict 
Augustinian,  did  not  admit  the  idea  that  a  man  can 
prepare  himself  for  the  first  grace.  He  recognized 
grace  alone  for  the  beginning,  not  the  merita  de 
congruo.  The  essence  of  grace  he  depicted  in  such 
a  manner,  that,  as  a  gift,  it  produces  a  peculiar 
quality  of  the  soul,  i.e.  besides  the  auxilium,  by 
which  God  especially  induces  the  soul  to  good  actions, 
he  infuses  into  the  soul  a  supernatural  quality. 
Grace  is  to  be  distinguished,  first,  as  the  grace  of  ^SleS 
salvation  (gratum  faciens)  and  as  the  grace  of  the  et0coopeSr- 
priestly  office,  second,  as  operans  (praeveniens)  and 
cooperans  (subsequens) ;  in  the  former  the  soul  is 
mota  non  movensj  in  the  latter  mota  movens.  The 
source  of  grace,  which  is  deifica,  is  God  himself,  who 
also  creates  the  preparation  for  it  in  man,  in  order 
to  render  the  materia  (the  soul)  "disposita".  No 
one,  however,  is  able  to  know  whether  God  is  car- 
rying on  the  supernatural  work  within  him.  This 
sentence  ("  nullus  potest  scire,  se  habere  gratiam, 
certitudinaliter ")  and  the  superfluous  speculation 
about  the  materia  disposita  (inspired  by  Aristotle) 


402       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Effect  of 
<  (race  Two- 
Fold:  Jus- 
tification, 
Blerits. 


Confusion 

in 
Doctrine. 


Natural 
Man   Can 
Earn  No 
Merit,  Jus- 
tified Man 
Can. 


became  fatal.  The  effect  of  grace  is  two-fold;  first, 
justification,  second,  merits,  i.e.  the  real  justification 
does  not  yet  take  place  by  the  remissio  peccatorum, 
but  one  may  say  simply,  because  of  the  end  in  view, 
that  forgiveness  of  sin  is  already  justification.  But 
the  gratia  infusa  is  necessary  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sin  and  therefore  a  motus  liberi  arbitrii  is  here 
required.  Thus  the  gratia  praeveniens  in  truth 
consists  in  an  indefinable  act,  since  every  effect  al- 
ready presupposes  cooperation.  Looking  closer,  there 
prevails  with  Thomas  a  great  confusion  regarding 
the  process  of  justification,  because  the  locating  of 
the  moment  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  causes  difficul- 
ties ;  it  ought  to  be  in  the  beginning  and  yet  it  must 
be  placed  later  because  the  infusion  of  grace,  the 
turning  to  God  in  love  and  the  turning  from  sin, 
should  precede  it.  By  the  "  opus  magnum  et  mira- 
culosum"  of  the  justificatio  impii  the  effects  are 
weighed,  which  through  grace  more  and  more  fall  to 
the  lot  of  the  one  already  justified.  They  all  come 
under  the  head  of  merit.  All  progress  must  be  so 
regarded  that,  in  so  far  as  it  is  the  work  of  grace,  it 
is  gained  ex  condigno,  but,  in  so  far  as  the  free 
will  of  the  justified  is  concerned  in  it,  it  takes  place 
ex  congruo.  Therefore  the  opinion  of  Thomas  was, 
that  the  natural  man  after  the  fall  can  earn  no  merit, 
but  the  justified  man  can  do  so  ex  congruo  ("  con- 
gruumest,  uthomini  operanti  secundum  suam  vir- 
tutem  deus  recompenset  secundum  excellentiam 
suae  virtutis") ;  whereas  in  regard  to  eternal  salva- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      493 

tion  there  exists  for  man  "propter  maximam  inae- 
qualitatem  proportionis"  no  meritum  de  condigno. 
This  is  reserved  to  the  efficacy  of  grace.     The  meri- 
torious principle  is  always  love;   this  deserves  the 
augmentum   gratiae  ex   condigno.      On  the   con- 
trary perseverance  in    grace  can   in  no   sense    be    anc?Not 
merited :  "  Perseverantia  viae  non  cadit  sub  merito, 
quia  dependet  solum  ex  motione  divina,  quae  est 
principium  omnis  meriti,  sedd  eus  gratis  perse- 
verantiae  bonum  largitur,  cuicunque  Mud  largi- 
tur" .     Hereby  pure  Augustinianism  was  restored, 
which  Thomas  also  admitted  unabridged  into  his 
doctrine  of  predestination,  while  not  only  the  inde- 
fatigably  repeated  definition  of  God  as  primum  mo- 
vens,  but  also  the  whole  special  doctrine  of  morals 
shows  the  influence  of  Aristotle.     In  the  latter  is  car- 
ried out  the  thought  that  virtue,  by  the  right  ordering 
of  efforts  and  instincts,  comes  through  the  reason  and 
later  is  supernaturally  perfected  by  the  gifts  of  grace. 
Virtue  culminates  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  consilia  v52£?üi 
evangelica   (poverty,    chastity,    obedience).      These    dustily; 
form  the  conclusion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  new  law ;      dience. 
but,  on  the  other  side,  the  doctrine  of  grace  also  cul- 
minates in  them,  so  that  they,  properly  speaking, 
form  the  apex  of  the  whole  scheme.      "  Praecepta 
important  necessitatem,  consilium  in  optione  pon- 
itur  ejus,  cut  datur" .     Through  "  counsels"  man  at- 
tains his  aim  "  melius  et  expeditius" ;  for  the  pre- 
cepts still  admit  of  a  certain  inclination  to  the  goods 
of  this  world,  the  counsels  wholly  discard  the  same, 


494       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Eternal 

Lite 

Bonum 

Superexce- 

dens 
Naturam. 


Thomas' 
Doctrine 
Double- 
Faced. 


Faith  is  no 
Longer 
Faith. 


so  that  in  following  the  latter  the  shortest  way  is 
given  to  eternal  life.  By  this  discrimination  be- 
tween precept  a  and  consilia  light  is  once  more 
thrown  upon  the  original  state.  The  original  en- 
dowment of  man  was  in  itself  not  sufficient  to  attain 
unto  the  vita  aeterno,;  the  latter  was  a  bonum 
superexcedens  naturam;  but  in  the  additional  en- 
dowment of  the  justitia  originalis  man  possesses  a 
supernatural  gift,  which  enables  him  to  really  attain 
unto  eternal  life.  Thus  one  may  say  that  after  the 
appearance  of  sin  (materialiter  =  concupiscentiay 
formaliter  —  defectus  originalis  justitiae)  the 
precepta  correspond  to  the  restoring  of  the  natural 
state  of  man,  the  consilia  to  the  donum  superaddi- 
tum  of  the  justitia  originalis. 

Thomas'  doctrine  of  grace  has  a  double  aspect ;  it 
looks  backward  toward  Augustine  and  forward 
toward  the  dissolution  of  the  doctrine  in  the  14th  cen- 
tury. Thomas  wanted  to  be  an  Augustinian,  and 
his  explanations  were  already  an  Augustinian  re- 
action against  the  assertions  of  Halesius,  Bona- 
ventura and  others;  but  he  allowed  much  wider 
play  to  the  idea  of  merit  than  did  Augustine;  he 
removed  still  farther  than  the  latter  the  doctrine  of 
grace  from  the  person  of  Christ  (the  latter  is  dis- 
cussed before  Christology !) ,  and  he  permitted  faith 
and  the  forgiveness  of  sin  to  recede  still  farther. 
Faith  is  either  fides  informis,  therefore  not  yet 
faith,  or  fides  formata,  therefore  no  longer  faith. 
In  fact  faith  as  fiducia  can  find  no  place,  if  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF   SIN,  ETC.      495 


effects  of  grace  are  a  new  nature  and  a  moral  refor- 
mation. In  the  ambiguous  sentence,  "  Caritas 
meretur  vitam  aeternam",  the  mischief  of  the  time 
to  come  lay  already  concealed. 

The  setting  aside  of  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of 
grace  and  sin  can  be  followed  up  in  every  point:  (1) 
Halesius  already  taught  that  Adam  in  paradise 
by  good  works  ex  congruo  merited  the  gratia 
gratum  faciens.  The  Scotists  followed  in  his  steps, 
at  the  same  time  discriminating  between  the  justi 
tia  originalis  and  such  grace,  and  reckoning  the 
latter  to  the  perfection  of  human  nature  itself.  Al- 
though this  was  an  advantage,  yet  it  was  neutralized 
by  the  fact  that  the  merit  ex  congruo  had  been 
placed  from  the  beginning  alongside  of  the  "  only 
efficacious  grace".  (2)  Thomas  no  longer  squarely 
admitted  the  sentence  in  regard  to  hereditary  sin: 
"  Natur  alia  bona  corrupta  sunt",  in  so  far  as  he 
defined  the  concupiscence,  which  in  itself  is  not  evil, 
simply  as  languor  et  fomes,  emphasized  stronger 
than  Augustine  the  negative  side  of  sin  and,  because 
the  ratio  remained,  assumed  a  continued  inclinatio 
ad  bonum.  Duns,  on  the  whole,  separated  the  ques- 
tion of  concupiscence  from  that  of  hereditary  sin ; 
the  former  no  longer  appeared  to  him  the  formale 
of  the  latter,  but  merely  the  mater iale.  Thus  as 
regards  hereditary  sin  there  remained  only  the  pri- 
vativ of  the  supernatural  good,  which  indeed  brought 
about  a  disturbance  of  the  nature  of  man,  however 
without  any  of  the  natural  good  really  being  lost. 


Steps  in 
Dissolution 
of  Augus- 
tine's 
Doctrine. 


Thomas. 


496       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

Even  the  first  sin  was  very  loosely  conceived  of  by 
Duns.  Duns  (against  Augustine):  Adam  only  indirectly 
transgressed  the  commandment  to  love  God  and 
the  commandment  to  love  his  neighbor,  and  only 
in  so  far  as  by  compliance  he  overstepped  the  right 
measure.  Besides  it  was  not  at  all  a  question  of  an 
offence  against  moral  laws,  but  of  not  obeying  a  com- 
mandment imposed,  for  the  sake  of  probation.  With 
Occam.  Occam  everything  is  entirely  dissolved.  As  in  the 
case  of  redemption,  the  reckoning  of  the  fall  of 
man  appeared  to  him  as  an  arbitrary  act  of  God, 
which  became  known  to  us  by  "revelation".  Small 
sins  were  even  possible  in  the  original  state  (thus  al- 
ready Duns) .  The  renouncing  of  everything  ideal, 
i.e.,  the  Neo-Platonic  knowledge  of  the  world,  led 
the  nominalists  to  decompose  the  conception  of  guilt 
and  sin;  here  also  they  made  tabula  rasa  and  fell 
back  upon  the  practice  of  the  Church  viewed 
as  a  revelation,  because  they  were  still  blind  to 
history  and  concrete  relations.     (3)    Duns  and  his 

Hereditary  successors  considered  the  guilt  of  hereditary  sin  as 
finite.  (4)  Duns  saw  the  contagium  of  hereditary 
sin  simply  in  the  flesh,  and  argued  against  the 
Thomistic  assumption  of  a  vulneratio  naturae;  the 
religious  view  of  sin  as  guilt,  jeopardized  already  by 
Augustine  and  Thomas,  fully  disappeared.     (5)  The 

A.'iHtrium  Mberium  arbitrium  possessed  the  widest  scope,  since 
the  fundamental  thesis  had  been  sacrificed,  that  good 
exists  only  in  dependence  upon  God.  With  Duns 
and  the  leading  theologians  after  him  free-will  is  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   DOCTRINE  OF  SIN,  ETC.      497 


second  great  power  by  the  side  of  God,  and  what- 
ever they  correctly  established  in  the  sphere  of  em- 
pirical psychology,  they  gave  to  it  also  a  material 
and  positive  religious  significance.  It  is  the  inher- 
ited fate  of  mediaeval  dogmatics,  that  in  the  amal- 
gamation of  a  knowledge  of  the  world  and  religion  a 
relatively  more  correct  knowledge  of  the  world  be- 
came finally  more  dangerous  to  faith  than  an  incor- 
rect knowledge.  Against  Pelagianism,  which  ever- 
more unhesitatingly  made  use  of  Augustini anism 
simply  as  an  "art  language",  Bradwardina  now 
first  took  a  strong  stand,  and  after  that  the  reaction 
did  not  any  more  wane,  but  gradually  increased  dur- 
ing the  15th  century  until  Wesel,  Wessel,  Staupitz, 
Cajetan  and  Contarini  appeared.  (6)  In  the  doctrine 
of  justification  and  of  the  meritorious  earning  of  eter- 
nal life  the  dissolution  manifested  itself  strongly :  (a) 
The  gratia  praeveniens  became  a  phrase,  the  gra- 
tia cooperans  was  the  sole  comprehensible  grace;  (b) 
That  which  with  Thomas  was  meritum  de  congruo 
became  meritum  de  condigno;  merita  de  congruo, 
however,  were  acknowledged  in  such  affections  as 
Thomas  had  not  placed  at  all  under  the  merit  point 
of  view ;  (c)  Together  with  the  meritoriousness  of  the 
attritio  the  fides  informis,  the  mere  obedience  of 
faith,  was  also  valued  more  highly.  At  this  point 
the  perversion  became  greatest.  Mere  subjection  to 
the  faith  of  the  Church  and  the  attritio  became,  in 
a  measure,  the  fundamental  principles  of  dogmatics. 
According  to  Duns  the  natural  sinful  man  can  still 


Bradwar- 
dina. 


Justifica- 
tion and 
Meritori- 
ous Works. 


Subjection 

to  Church 

Principal 

Kequire- 

ment. 


•498        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Occam 
Takes  Ref- 
uge in 
Arbitra- 
riness, 
of  God. 


Necessity 
of  Super- 

natural 
Habitus 
Based  on 

Authority 
of  Church. 


prepare  himself  for  grace;  he  can  begin  to  love  God. 
Therefore  he  must  do  so.  In  truth,  therefore,  merit 
always  precedes  grace;  first  the  meritum  de  con- 
gruo,  then  after  acquiring  the  first  grace  the  mer- 
itum de  condigno.  Thereby  the  first  and  second 
grace  were  reduced  to  the  rank  of  mere  expedients. 
Indeed  the  Divine  factor  appears  only  in  the  accepta- 
tio.  The  latter,  however — here  the  conception  veers 
around, — does  not  in  the  strictest  sense  at  all  admit 
of  merit.  The  nominalistic  doctrine  ivas  only  in  so 
far  not  simple  moralism  as  it  was  less,  i.e.  its 
doctrine  of  God  does  not  admit  in  any  way  of  a 
strict  moralism.  This  is  plainest  in  Occam,  who  in 
general  affords  the  paradoxical  spectacle  of  a  strongly 
developed  religious  sense  taking  refuge  solely  in  the 
arbitrariness  of  God.  Eeliance  upon  the  latter,  as 
the  Church  defined  its  content,  alone  saved  him  from 
nihilism.  Faith,  in  order  to  maintain  itself,  found 
no  other  safety  against  the  inroad  of  the  flood  of 
science  than  the  plank  of  the  arbitrariness  of  the 
God  whom  it  sought.  It  no  longer  understood  him, 
but  it  submitted  to  him.  Thus  Church  dogma  and 
Church  practice  remained  standing,  just  because 
the  philosophy  of  religion  and  absolute  morality  were 
washed  away.  According  to  Occam  the  necessity 
of  a  supernatural  habitus  (therefore  of  grace  in  gen- 
eral) to  gain  eternal  life  cannot  be  proved  by  argu- 
ments founded  upon  reason,  since  a  heathen  also 
through  reason  can  arrive  at  a  love  of  God.  The 
necessity  is  established   solely  by  the  authority  of 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   DOCTRINE   OF  SIN,  ETC.      499 

the  Church.  Occam  and  his  friends  were  as  yet  no 
moralists  or  rationalists ;  they  only  appear  so  to  us. 
The  Socinians  were  the  first,  for  they  first  raised  the  |^?RaS 
hypothetical  tenets  of  the  nominalists  concerning  tlonallsts- 
natural  theology  to  categorical  rank.  But  thereby 
they  again  gained  a  mighty  reliance  upon  the  clear- 
ness and  power  of  morality,  which  the  nominalists 
had  forfeited  together  with  their  inward  confidence 
in  religion.  If  in  the  15th  century  men  bewailed  the 
destruction  of  theology  in  religion,  they  had  in  mind 
the  tenets  which  were  put  into  practice,  viz.,  that  good 
works  are  the  causae  for  receiving  eternal  life,  that 
even  the  most  trifling  works  done  will  ever  be  re- 
garded as  merits,  and  because  they  considered  sub- 
mission to  the  ordinances  of  the  Church  a  bonus 
motus,  which,  supplemented  by  the  sacraments,  im- 
parts the  worthiness  necessary  for  eternal  life. 


The  lax  conception  of  hereditary  sin  showed  itself  Hgf^g^{fy 
in  the  development  of  the  dogma  concerning  Mary.  ^Mary! 
Anselm,  Bernard,  Bonaventura  and  Thomas  still  as- 
cribed hereditary  sin  to  Mary,  even  if  they  admitted 
an  especial  reservation  regarding  it ;  but  by  the  year 
1140  at  Lyons  a  feast  of  the  immaculate  conception 
of  Mary  was  celebrated,  and  Duns  taught  that  the 
immaculate  conception  was  probable  (retro-acting 
power  of  the  death  of  Christ) .  The  controversy  be- 
tween the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  which  then 
arose  was  not  adjusted  in  the  Middle  Ages,  but  was 


500       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Extrava-    forbidden  by  Sixtus  IV.     The  Dominicans  did  not 

pant  J 

ofavirginn  otherwise  take  a  subordinate  place  in  the  extrava- 
gant glorification  of  the  virgin.  Thomas  indeed 
taught  that  to  her  belongs  not  only  "dulia",  as  to 
the  saints,  but "  hyperdidia" .  She  also  was  credited 
with  a  certain  part  in  the  work  of  redemption  (queen 
of  heaven,  inventrix  gratiae,  via,  janua,  scala, 
domina,  mediatrix).  The  assumption  of  the  Scot- 
ists,  that  she  had  cooperated  not  only  passively  but 
also  actively  at  the  incarnation,  was  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  the  adoration,  especially  as  Bernard 
taught  it. 


BOOK  III. 


THE  THREE-FOLD  ISSUING  OF  THE  HISTORY 
OF  DOGMA. 


lern. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORICAL  SURVEY. 

THE  elements  of  the  Augustinian  theology  be-  Thomas 
came  more  prominent  during  the  Middle  Ages,  t^pjob- 
but  they  were  gradually  more  widely  sundered  from 
one  another.  True,  Thomas  undertook  once  again 
to  solve  the  enormous  problem  of  satisfying  within 
the  bounds  of  one  system  all  the  claims  made  by 
ecclesiastical  antiquity  as  expressed  in  its  body  of 
dogma,  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  the  idea  of  the 
Church  as  an  ever-present,  living  Christ,  by  the 
legal  organization  of  the  Roman  Church,  by  Augus- 
tine's doctrine  of  grace,  by  the  science  of  Aristotle 
and  the  Bernardine-Franciscan  piety ;  but  this  new 
Augustine  was  not  able  to  create  a  satisfactory  unity. 
His  undertaking  had  in  part  the  opposite  conse- 
quence, as  it  were.  The  nominalist's  criticism  of 
the  reason  and  the  mysticism  of  Eckhart  went  to 
school  to  Thomas;  the  curialists  learned  from  him 

and  so  did  the  "Reformers".     In  the  15th  century 

501 


502       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

theological  doctrine  seemed  to  be  settled.  But  there 
appeared  at  that  time  two  plain  tendencies :  Curial- 
ism  and  the  opposition  thereto. 

curiaiism:  Curialism  taught  that  the  usages  of  the  Romish 
Divide  Church  are  Divine  truth.  It  treated  Church  affairs 
and  religion  as  an  outward  dominion  and  sought  to 
maintain  them  by  means  of  power,  bureaucracy  and 
an  oppressive  toll-system.  After  the  unlucky  course 
of  the  great  councils  a  general  lassitude  succeeded. 
The  princes  who  were  striving  for  absolutism  found 
their  match  when  they  bargained  with  the  curia  to 
share  with  it  in  the  shearing  of  the  sheep.  They 
gave  back  to  the  curia  in  ecclesiastical  matters  the 
absolute  power,  in  order  to  share  in  the  division 
of  the  resultant  mixture  (the  bulls,  "  Execrabilis" 
of  Pius  II.  in  the  year  1459,  and  "  Pastor  aeternus" 

p^emeover  of  Leo  X.  in  the  year  1516,  proclaim  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  pope  over  the  councils).  The  opinion 
that  papal  decisions  are  as  holy  as  the  decrees  of 
councils,  and  that  the  right  of  exposition  in  all 
things  belongs  only  to  the  Church,  i.e.  Rome,  grad- 

Decrees  of  ually  established  itself.      The  curia,  however,  was 

Councils  J  '  ' 

B8dii£S!e  very  careM  to  compile  from  these  decisions  a  book 
of  laws,  a  closed  dogmatic  canon.  Its  infallibility 
and  sovereignty  were  secure  only  when  it  still  had 
a  free  hand  and  when  men  were  obliged  to  accede  in 
every  case  to  its  judicial  utterance.  The  old  dogma 
was  esteemed  as  formerly;  but  the  questions  which 
it  treated  in  actual  life  lay  no  more  within  its  own 
province.     They  were   handled   by  theology.     The 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    503 

latter,  however,  during  the  150  years  subsequent  to 
Thomas,  came  to  the  conviction  of  the  irration- 
ality of  the  revealed  doctrine  and  therefore  gave  out 
the  watchword,  that  one  must  blindly  submit  to  the 
authority  of  the  Church.  This  development  favored 
curialism ;  long  since  in  Rome  men  had  taught  that 
submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Church  (fides  im- 
plicita)  would  secure  blessedness,  if  only  one  believed 
besides  in  the  Divine  recompense.  In  the  humanis- 
tic circles  of  the  curia  men  did  not  in  truth  wholly 
accept  this ;  yet  on  the  other  hand  pious  sentiment 
revered  the  Divine  in  the  irrational  and  arbitrary. 
That  this  entire  handling  of  the  matter  was  a  way 
of  burying  the  old  dogma  is  clear.  The  end  toward 
which  from  the  beginning  the  matter  was  directed 
in  the  Occident  now  revealed  itself  with  astounding 
clearness :     Dogma  is  institution,  is  a  code  of  laws.   P°S^. is 

°  '  J  Institution. 

The  curia  itself  respected  the  same  only  formally; 
practically  there  lay  beneath,  as  in  the  case  of  all  codes 
in  the  hands  of  an  absolute  master,  the  politics  of  the 
curia.  The  "  tolerari  potest"  and  the  "probabile" 
indicate  a  still  worse  secularization  of  the  dogma 
and  of  the  Church  than  the  "anathema  sit".  Yet 
there  lay  a  truth  in  curialistic  ecclesiasticism  itself 
as  contrasted  with  those  tendencies  which  would 
found  the  Church  upon  the  sanctity  of  Christians. 
Against  the  Hussites  and  the  mystics  did  Rome  pre- 
serve the  right  of  the  conviction,  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  the  domination  of  the  Gospel  over  sinful 
men. 


504       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

<  Opposition  The  opposition  to  curialism  was  held  together  by  a 
cmiaiisiu.  negative  thought,  that  the  usages  of  the  Romish 
Church  were  become  tyrannical  and  that  they  had 
the  testimony  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity  against 
them.  Here  political,  social,  religious  and  scientific 
motives  met  together.  Men  reasoned  accordingly  that 
papal  decisions  do  not  have  the  significance  of  articles 
of  faith,  that  Rome  is  not  the  only  one  authorized  to 
interpret  the  Scriptures  and  the  fathers,  that  the  coun- 
cil should  reform  the  Church  in  its  hierarchy  and  in 
its  members,  and  that  the  Church,  over  against  the 
dogmatic,  cultish  and  ecclesiastico-legalistic  innova- 
tions of  Rome,  must  return  to  its  original  principles 
Retina-    and  to  its  original   attitude.     Men  believed  them- 

tion  ° 

from»?-  selves  able  to  set  aside  the  evolution  of  the  preceding 
centuries  and  planted  themselves  in  thesi  upon  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  ecclesiastical  antiquity ;  but  in 
praxi  the  reformatory  aim  was  either  wholly  obscure 
or  contained  so  many  elements  of  the  post-Augustin- 
ian  development  that  the  opposition  was  crippled  from 
the  start.  Men  knew  not  whether  they  were  to  re- 
form usages  or  misusages,  and  they  knew  not  what 
they  should  do  with  the  pope,  whom  they  acknowl- 
edged and  rejected,  blessed  and  cursed  with  the  same 
breath  (cf.  Luther's  own  attitude,  1517-1520,  toward 
the  pope).  But  this  highly  inconsistent  opposition 
was  still  a  power,  save  within  the  realm  of  doctrine; 
for  the  latter  was  discredited  also  within  the  circles 
rS?ty:al  of  tne  anti-curialists.  "Practical  piety"  was  the 
staupitX1    watchword  of  humanists  like  Erasmus  and  of  Au- 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    505 

gustinians  like  Staupitz.  Men  were  surfeited  with 
that  theology  which  reasoned  over-much  within  the 
safe  haven  of  authority  and  rendered  the  truly  pious 
life  more  difficult.  If  the  Church  doctrine  were  only 
"science",  then  was  it  given  for  the  sake  of  the  lat- 
ter ;  it  ought  to  step  aside  and  make  way  for  a  new 
mode  of  thought  (see  Socinianism) .     But  since  the    socinian- 

ism. 

old  dogma  was  more,  it  remained — yet  here  also 
as  a  legal  code.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  bold 
leaders  the  opposition  parties  respected  the  dogma 
with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation.  They  felt 
it  still  ever,  even  if  obscurely,  as  the  foundation 
of  their  existence.  But  they  wished  no  doctrinal 
controversies :  Scholastic  quibblings  were  as  distaste- 
ful to  them  as  monkish  quarrels,  still  they  wished  to 
free  themselves  from  scholasticism.     What  a  contra-    what  con- 

tracuc- 

diction!  The  ultimate  ground  lay  in  the  enormous  tions! 
breach  which  existed  between  the  old  dogma  and  the 
Christian  conceptions  whose  expressed  form  was  the 
life  of  the  day.  Dogma  was  the  soil  and  the  title- 
deed  for  the  existence  of  the  Church — but  which  old 
Church  dogma  had  then  still  for  piety,  as  it  then 
existed,  a  directly  comprehensible  sense?  Neither 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  nor  of  the  two  natures. 
Men  thought  no  more  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks. 
Piety,  as  it  developed  itself  in  the  15th  century,  lived 
in   Augustine,  Bernard   and   Francis.      Under  the       Men 

°  Thought  to 

shell  of  an  old  faith  a  new  piety  had  been  forming   J^SiS 
during  the  past  thousand  years  and  therefore  also  a     mmsm- 
new  faith.     Men  here  and  there  thought  to  assist  by 


506       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

a  return  to  pure  Augustinianism.  Yet  the  crisis 
at  that  time,  the  breach  between  the  dogmatic  legal 
regulations  in  the  Church  and  the  obscure  aim  of 
piety,  sprang  out  of  the  soil  of  Augustinianism  it- 
self. The  defects  lay  germinally  already  in  their 
premises.  This,  it  is  true,  no  forerunner  of  the  Ref- 
ormation perceived ;  but  the  fact  of  the  impossibility 
of  a  reformation  by  the  means  transmitted  by 
Augustine  is  thoroughly  apparent.  The  disinteg- 
rated Augustinianism  is  still  Augustinianism; 
how  then  shall  one  permanently  help  out  the  same 
with  the  genuine? 
criticism        Still  the  criticism  which  applied  the  revived  Au- 

Beneficial.  ±  *■ 

gustinianism  to  the  disintegrated  had  in  the  15th 
century  a  beneficial  influence,  without  whose  prepa- 
ratory work  the  Reformation  and  the  Tridentine 
council  were  inconceivable.  The  immoral,  irrelig- 
ious, yea,  heathenish  mechanism  of  the  dominant 
Church  was  discredited  by  this  Augustinianism; 
yes  even  more,  the  latter  unfettered  the  sense  of 
freedom  in  religion  and  therewith  the  striving 
after  real  religion.  It  worked  in  union  with  all  the 
forces  which  in  the  15th  century  recognized  the  right 
of  the  individual  and  of  subjectivity,  and  sought  to 
break  the  spell  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  created  un- 
rest, an  unrest  which  went  beyond  itself— How  can 
one  be  a  free  and  at  the  same  time  a  blessed  man? 
But  no  one  was  able  to  formulate  this  question, 
because  no  one  felt  as  yet  its  full  force. 

With  the  close  of  the  15th  century  various  issu- 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    507 

ings  of  the  crisis  seemed  possible :  A  complete  tri-  J^™! 
umph  of  curialism,  a  triumph  of  revivified  Augus-  poSSe. 
tinianism,  a  sundering  of  the  Church  into  diverse 
groups  of  the  most  rigid  curialism  and  of  a  ceremon- 
ial religion  verging  toward  a  rationalistic  and  fanat- 
ical Biblical  Christianity  which  should  discard  the 
old  dogma,  finally  a  new  reformation  of  religion  as  a 
whole,  i.e.  an  evangelical  reformation,  which  should 
root  up  and  discard  the  old.  dogma,  because  the  new 
point  of  view — God  is  gracious  for  the  sake  of 
Christ,  and  the  right  and  freedom  which  have  come 
through  him — could  permit  that  only  to  remain  in 
theology  which  belonged  to  him. 

In  reality,  however,  the  issuings  were  different.    T^i(J^ntiine 

1^3X110.11" 

They   all   remained   burdened  with  contradictions:      cism* 

Tridentine    Catholicism,    Socinianism    and    the 

Evangelical  Reformation.      In  the  first  curialism 

prevailed,  the  monarchical  institutional  dispenser  of 

blessedness   with  its   sacraments  and  its  "merits"; 

but  it  found  itself  compelled  to  make  a  compact  with 

Augustinianism  and  to  reckon  with  the  same  on  the 

basis  of  the  codification  of  the  new  dogmas  which 

had  been   extorted   from   it.      In   Socinianism  the    socinian- 
ism. 

nominalistic  criticism  of  the  understanding  and  the 
humanistic  spirit  of  the  new  era  prevailed;  but  it 
remained  entangled  in  the  old  Biblicism,  and  in 
setting  aside  the  old  dogmas  it  created  for  itself  new 
ones  in  opposition  to  the  old.  Finally  in  the  evan-  ^fpSor0-" 
gelical  Reformation  the  infallible  organization  of  the 
Church,   the  infallible  doctrinal  traditions  of    the 


508       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Church  and  the  infallible  canon  of  Scripture  were  in 
principle  set   aside  and   a  wholly  new   standpoint 
secured ;  but  sagacity  and  courage  did  not  hold  out 
to  apply  in  each  particular  instance  that  which  had 
been  secured  in  general.     On  the  assumption  that 
the  thing  itself  (the  Gospel) — not  the  authority — 
demanded  it,  men  retained  the  old  dogma  as  the  es- 
sential content  of  the  Gospel  and  under  the  title 
"word  of  God"  they  returned  to  Biblicism.     Over 
against  the  new  doctrine  of  the  hierarchical,  cultish, 
Pelagianistic  and  monkish  Christendom  men  saw  in 
the  old  dogma  only  the  expression  of  faith  in  God 
who  is  merciful  in  Christ,  and  failed  to  see  that 
Do|ma  is    dogma  at  the  same  time  is  something  entirely  diff  er- 
KnÄedge  en*>   Y^z-  '•    Philosophical    cosmo-theistic  knowledge 
the  world,  and  rule  of  faith.     But  that  which  men  admitted 
under  a  new  title  vindicated  itself,  when  once  it  had 
been  allowed,  by  a  logic  of  its  own.     Men  exalted 
the  true  theology,  the  theologia  cruris,  and  placed 
it  upon  the  lamp-stand ;  but  in  doing  this  under  the 
old  ecclesiastical  forms  they  obtained  in  the  bargain 
the  accompanying  knowledge  and   rule  of  faith; 
and  the  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  evangelical 
parties  appeared  like  a  continuation  of  the  scholastic 
school-controversies,  only  with  infinitely  higher  sig- 
nificance; for  now  they  had  to  do  with  the  exist- 
ÄcXn-    ence  °f  the  neiv  Church.     Thus  arose  at  the  very 
Augsburg    beginning — at  least  with  the  eucharistic  controversy 

Confes- 
sion,      and  the  Augsburg  Confession,  which  now  began  to 

pour  the  new  wine  into  the  old  wine-skins— in  the 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF   DOGMA.    509 

reformed  conception  of  doctrine  a  highly  compli- 
cated, contradictory  picture.  Only  in  the  principles 
of  Luther,  and  not  in  all  of  them,  did  the  new  spirit 
display  itself;  outside  of  these  it  contained  nothing 
new,  and  he  who  to-day,  in  the  19th  century,  does 
not  take  this  spirit  as  his  monitor,  but  rests  quietly 
beneath  the  stunning  blow  which  it  gave  itself  at 
the  end  of  the  16th  century,  deceives  himself  in  re- 
gard to  his  own  position :  He  is  not  evangelical,  but 
belongs  to  a  Catholic  sub-species  where  he  is  free,  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  present-day  Protes 
tantism,  to  select  the  Biblical,  dogmatical,  mystical 
or  hierarchical  elements.  Post-Tri- 

dentiue. 

However,  the  resultants  of  the  history  of  the  ccfSm.h" 
dogma  are  clearly  represented  in  the  three  following 
creations :  Post-Tridentine  Catholicism  finally  com- 
pleted the  neutralizing  of  the  old  dogma  in  an  arbi-  Socinian- 
trary  papal  legal  organization;  Socinianism  appre- 
ciably disintegrated  and  came  to  an  end;  the 
Reformation,  in  that  it  both  set  the  dogma  aside  and 
preserved  them  outright,  looked  away  from  them, 
backward  to  the  Gospel,  forward  to  a  new  formula- 
tion of  the  Gospel  confession  which  shall  be  free 
from  dogma  and  be  reconciled  with  truthfulness  and 
truth.  In  this  sense  the  history  of  dogma  should  Re^™a" 
set  forth  the  issuings  of  dogma.  In  the  Reforma- 
tion it  has  only  to  describe  the  Christianity  of  Luther, 
in  order  to  make  the  subsequent  development  com- 
prehensible. The  latter  belongs  either  as  a  whole  to 
the  history  of  dogma  (up  to  the  present  time) ,  or  not 


510       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

at  all.  It  is  more  correct,  however,  to  exclude  it 
entirely,  for  the  old  dogma  claimed  to  be  infallible. 
This  claim  the  Reformation,  so  to  speak,  disclaimed 
for  its  own  productions — there  was  silence  as  to 
the  old  dogmas.  Therefore  he  who  still  seeks  for 
a  middle  conception  between  reformable  and  infal- 
lible would  perpetuate  forever  the  confusions  of  the 
epigonoi,  if  he  should  recognize  dogmas  in  the 
expositions  of  Protestantism  in  the  16th  century. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ISSUING  OF  THE   DOGMA  IN  ROMAN 
CATHOLICISM. 

1.  The  Codification  of  the  Mediaeval  Doctrines  in 
Opposition  to  Protestantism  (Canons  and 
Decrees  of  Trent) . 

Edition  of  the  decrees,  1564.     Earlier  works  in   Köllner, 
Symbolik,  1844,  later  in  Herzog,  RE2,  sub  verb.  Tridentinum. 

SSn  asnd  ^"N  R°me  ^iey  wished  only  to  condemn  strange 
*  doctrines,  not  to  codify  their  own ;  they  also  wanted 
no  council.  But  one  was  required  of  the  curia  by  the 
princes.  In  the  coming  together  it  became  clear  that 
the  mediseval  spirit  had  acquired  strength  from  the 
Reformation,  humanism  and  Augustinianism,  but 
that  this  spirit  itself  remained  the  stronger  power. 
The  curia  accomplished  the  masterful  work,  of  ap- 
propriating the  new,  of  condemning  the  Reformation, 
of  justifying  itself  and  yet  of  setting  aside  thereby 
the  most  glaring  abuses.     In  opposing  the  Luther 


THREE-FOLD    ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    511 

movement,  they  were  obliged  to  transform   many 
mediaeval   doctrines    into  dogmas — the    decrees   of  Decrees  of 

^  Trent 

Trent  are  the  shadows  of  the  Reformation.  "What  sÄrma°-f 
originally  to  the  mind  of  the  curia  appeared  to  be 
a  misfortune — the  necessity  of  formulating  and  the 
compulsory  return  to  Augustinianism, — proved  itself 
later  to  be  an  advantage :  They  had  a  new  rule  of 
faith,  which  could  be  applied  with  verbal  strictness, 
whenever  it  seemed  expedient,  and  which  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  so  ambiguous  and  elastic  as  to  leave 
free  play  for  the  arbitrary  decisions  of  the  curia. 
The  latter  reserved  the  right  of  interpretation  and 
the  council  conceded  this,  and  thus  already  did  infal- 
libility accrue  in  principle  to  the  pope.  The  curia  SgedJ 
itself  was  accordingly  unchanged,  i.e.  it  came  forth  improved. 
from  the  purgatory  of  the  council  with  all  its  cus- 
toms, practices,  assumptions  and  sins ;  but  the  inner 
condition  of  the  Church  as  a  whole  was  nevertheless 
improved.  By  reason  of  its  inner  untruthfulness  and 
because  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  to-day  have 
been  consistently  developed  in  not  a  few  points  (re- 
cent rejection  of  Augustinianism,  decision  of  the 
question,  undecided  at  Trent,  whether  the  pope  be 
the  universal  bishop  and  infallible),  the  Tridentine 
decrees  are  no  longer  an  unobscured  source  of  Cath- 
olicism. Even  at  Trent  were  the  dogma  transformed 
into  a  dogma-politics,  and  the  laity  debarred  from 
faith  and  dogma :  Everything  that  has  been  handed 
down  is  most  holy  as  regard  its  verbal  meaning,  but 
in  theology  it  resolves  itself  into  an  array  of  more  or 


512       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

less  probable  meanings,  which,   in  the  case  of  any 
controversy,  are  decided  by  the  pope. 

Re-Baptism       They  agreed  in  the  rejection  of  "  re-baptism"  and 

enouicede"  Protestants.  After  reiterating  the  Constantinopoli- 
tan  creed,  they  declared  in  the  4th  session,  in  order 
to  guard  the  " puritas  evangelii",  that  the  apocrypha 
are  of  like  rank  with  the  Old  Testament,  that  the 
vulgate  is  to  be  considered  as  authentic,  and  that 
the  Church  alone  is  permitted  to  interpret  the  Scrip- 
tures.    By  the  side  of  the  latter,  however,  they  placed 

Tradition,  foe  "  traditiones  sine  scripto,  quae  ab  ipsius 
Ch?*isti  ore  ab  apostolis  acceptae  aid  ab  ipsius 
apostoliSy  spiritu  sancto  dictante,  quasi  per 
manus  traditae  ad  nos  usque  pervenerunt"  (in  an- 
other place  the  definition  expresses  the  idea  some- 
what differently).  In  the  5th  and  6th  sessions  the 
decrees  in  regard  to  original  sin  and  justification 
were  formulated.  Here  under  the  spell  of  the  re- 
awakened Augustinianism  and  of  the  Reformation 
they  did  not  commit  themselves  to  the  nominalistic 
doctrine,  but  approached  very  near  to  Thomas ;  in- 
deed their  doctrine  of  justification,  although  it  was 
born  of  politics,  is  a  very  respectable  prodiact, 
in  which  an  evangelical  element  is  not  wanting. 
But  (1)  lines  were  drawn  here  and  there  which  led 

Petenten-    to  a  Scotistic  (semi-Pelagian)  understanding  of  the 
Roman      doctrine,  (2)  it  made  very  little  difference  what  was 

Church  . 

Laws.  said  m  the  chief  sentence  about  sin  and  grace,  when 
in  the  subordinate  sentences  the  thesis  was  allowed, 
that  the  practices  of  the  Roman  Church  are  the  chief 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    513 

law.  By  the  first  sin,  it  was  admitted,  Adam  lost 
holiness  and  righteousness  uin  qua  constitutus 
fuer  at",  became  changed  "in  deter  ins"  in  body  and 
soul,  and  perpetuated  his  sin  "  propagatione" .  Yet 
they  also  taught  that  free  will  was  not  destroyed,  but  Free  wni. 
"viribus  attenuatus" ,  and  that  baptism  really  blots 
out  the  reatus  originalis  peccati,  but  the  concupis- 
centia  (forties),  which  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as 
sin,  remains  (therefore  the  religious  view  was  aban- 
doned). As  regards  justification  it  was  explained  Justifies 
that  it  is  the  act  by  which  rftan  passes  from  an  un- 
righteous to  a  righteous  state  (through  baptism,  i.e. 
the  sacrament  of  penance) ;  it  arises,  however,  not 
simply  through  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  but  also 
through  the  sanctifying  and  renewing  of  the  inner 
man  by  a  free  acceptance  of  grace,  although  the 
man  is  incapable  of  freeing  himself  from  the  domin- 
ion of  sin  per  vim  naturae,  or  per  litteram  legis 
Moysis.  On  the  one  hand,  justification  appears  as  v^pg 
the  translatio  from  one  condition  to  another,  viz. 
to  that  of  adoption,  and  faith  was  looked  upon  as  the 
determining  power  alongside  of  grace  ("  Christum 
proposuit  deus  propitiatorem  per  fidem  in  san- 
guine ipsius  pro  peccatis  nostris") ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  appears  as  a  sanctifying  process  through 
the  inpouring  of  grace  ("  Christi  sanctissimae 
passionis  merit o  per  spiritum  sanctum  Caritas 
dei  diffunditur  in  cordibus",  so  that  man  in  justifi- 
cation receives  at  the  same  time  with  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  an  inflow  of  faith,  love  and  hope;  with- 
33 


514       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

out  the  last  two,  man  is  neither  perfectly  united  to 
Christ,  nor  is  his  faith  a  living  one).  The  latter 
view  is  the  decisive,  and  accordingly  the  stadia  of 
the  process  of  justification    (inception  et  seq.)   are 

pmeien-  set  fortn  in  a  general wav-  The  9ra^a  praeveniens 
,ens'  exhausts  itself  in  the  vocatio  (nullis  existentibus 
meritis) ;  but  therein  is  the  inception  not  exhaust- 
ed, much  more  does  there  belong  to  it  the  illu- 
minatio  spiritus  sancti,  which  enables  man  to  turn 
toward  the  justitia  and  gives  him  therewith  a  dis- 
position and  a  free  surrender  to  God.  In  that  now 
justificatio  first  ensues,  the  thought  of  the  gratia 
gratis  data  is  vitiated.  Only  in  abstracto  is  the 
nessrofVsin  forgiveness  of  sin  inherently  peculiar,  and  the  same 
is  true  of  justification ;  in  concreto  it  is  a  gradual  pro- 
cess of  sanctification  which  is  completed  in  the  mor- 
tificatio  membrorum  carnis  and  made  manifest 
through  manifold  grace  in  an  obedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  God  and  the  Church.  Unto  an  assurance 
of  the  acquired  grace  can  one  not  attain  in  this  life ; 
but  the  lack  of  this  can  be  repaired  through  penance ; 
the  process  also  does  not  need  to  be  begun  anew,  in 
so  far  as  faith  has  remained  in  spite  of  the  loss  of 
the  justifying  grace.     The  goal  of  the  process  in  this 

opera  the   life  is  the  bona  opera,  which  God  by  virtue  of  his 

Goal. 

grace  receives  as  pleasing  to  himself  and  as  meri- 
torious. Accordingly  one  must  view  these  on  the 
one  hand  as  gifts  of  God  and  on  the  other  as  real 
means  to  blessedness. — The  most  important  thing 
is,  that   (in  opposition  to  the  Thomas-Augustinian 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    515 

tradition)    the  gratia  prima  does  not  justify,  but 
only  disposes.     Therefore  justification  arises  out  of    Justinea- 
a   cooperation.     No  Augustinian   phraseology  can    Js^fjrL. 
conceal  this.     Of  the  33  anathemas,  29  are  directed   operat 
against  Protestantism.     In  the  condemnation  of  the 
sentence,     "fidem  justificatem   nihil    aliud    esse 
quam   fiduciam    divinae    misericordiae   peccata 
remittentis  propter  Christum,   vel  earn  fiducian 
solam  esse,    qua  justiftcamur",   something    more 
was  implicitly  condemned,  viz.  rigid  Augustinian- 
ism,  —  therein    does  the  artfulness    of    the  decree 
consist. 

In  the  7th  and  following  sessions  the  doctrine  of  Doctrine  of 

Sacra- 

the  sacraments  was  formulated  and  the  Church  was  ments. 
declared  a  sacramental  institution  (u per  sacramenta 
omnis  vera  justitia  vel  incipit  vel  coepta  augetur 
vel  amissa  reparatur") ;  concerning  the  word  and 
faith  there  was  accordingly  silence.  Instead  of  a  doc- 
trine of  the  sacraments  in  genere  13  anathemas  were 
formulated,  which  contain  the  real  protest  against 
Protestantism.  The  institution  by  Christ  of  all  of 
the  seven  sacraments  was  affirmed,  as  well  as  the 
impossibility  of  being  justified  per  solam  fidem, 
without  the  sacraments.  These  "  continent  gratiam" 
and  accordingly  possess  a  mysterious  power,  which 
they  bestow  ex  opere  operato  upon  those  "qui 
obicem  non  ponunt".  In  other  respects  also  the 
Thomistic  doctrine  (character,  intention,  etc.)  is 
everywhere  preserved,  yet  the  theological  subtleties 
are  laid  aside,  and  the  transition  to  the  Scotistic  form 


510       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Depart- 
ures 
from 

<:s  of 
Church 
Con- 
demned. 


Transub- 

stantia- 

tion. 


Canones. 


of  statement  remains  possible.  At  the  close  of  the 
anathemas  every  departure  from  the  once  established 
usages  of  the  Church  was  condemned.  For  the  treat- 
ment  of  the  individual  sacraments  the  bull  of  Eugene 
IV.,  Exultate  domino  (1439),  served  as  a  prototype. 
The  declarations  in  regard  to  baptism  and  confirma- 
tion are  instructive  only  in  that  by  the  former  those 
persons  are  condemned  who  teach  that  all  subsequent 
sins  "  sola  recordatione  et  fide  suscepti  baptismi" 
can  be  forgiven,  and  by  the  latter  that  the  bishop 
alone  is  proclaimed  as  minister  sacramenti.  Touch- 
ing the  eucharist  the  Thomistic  theologumena  were 
transformed  into  a  dogma.  In  virtue  of  the  transub- 
stantiation  the  entire  Christ  is  present  in  each  par- 
ticle of  each  of  the  elements,  and  such  is  the  case 
before  their  reception ;  hence  the  host  is  to  be  wor- 
shipped ("in  eucharistia  ipse  sanctitatis  auctor 
ante  usum  est").  All  usages  were  here  designated 
as  apostolic.  The  effect  of  the  sacrament  remains 
highly  insignificant ;  those  were  expressly  condemned 
who  held  forgiveness  to  be  the  principal  fruit. 
At  the  most  contested  point,  the  mass,  the  sum 
total  of  tradition  was  sanctioned,  a  few  supersti- 
tious misusages  only  being  discountenanced.  Low 
and  high  mass  ("  sacrificium  propitiator  ium  pro 
vivis  et  defunctis  nondum  ad  plenum  purgatis  ") 
were  as  much  justified— notwithstanding  all  scru- 
ples of  princes— as  the  withholding  of  the  cup  and 
the  Latin  language.  The  canones  place  all  refor- 
matory   movements    under    the    ban    and    thereby 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    517 

rigidly  exclude  the  Church  of  the  word  from  the 
Church  of  the  pagan  mass-offering.  The  doctrine  of 
penance  is  much  more  thoroughly  handled  than 
that  of  the  eucharist  about  which  the  theologians 
alone  contended.  Even  unto  the  materia  and  quasi 
materia  was  the  entire  scholastic  labor  in  respect  to 
penance  received  as  dogma.  Hence  a  more  extended 
examination  (see  above,  p.  479)  is  unnecessary.     Yet     Attritio 

v  '  L  '  m  J  Equals 

it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  attritio  is  very  cir-  Co^ntio 
cumspectly  handled,  and  is  everywhere  looked  upon  pe  ec  a' 
as  contritio  imperfecta.  So  much  the  more  cate- 
gorically was  the  confessio  of  every  mortal  sin  be- 
fore the  priest  encouraged  and  the  judicial  character 
of  the  priest  emphasized.  The  satisfactions  were, 
as  with  Thomas,  considered  just  as  necessary  for  the 
temporalis  poena  peccati  as  the  indulgences.  Yet  Ind«!i!f en" 
men  spoke  very  reservedly  about  the  matter.  The 
scholastic  theory  is  not  alluded  to,  the  abuse  is  per- 
mitted ;  yet  touching  the  thing  itself  absolutely  noth- 
ing is  conceded  (whoever  declares  indulgences  not  to 
be  salutary  is  to  be  condemned) .  In  regard  to  the  last 
anointing,  the  orders  and  marriage  they  rushed  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Septem  ordines  were  already 
given  ab  ipso  initio  ecclesiae.  The  old  contested 
question  regarding  the  relation  of  the  bishops  to  the 
priests  was  not  decided,  yet  the  former  acquired  a 
superiority.  Regarding  marriage  they  discoursed  Marriage, 
only  homiletically  and  ecclesiastically,  yet  they  con- 
demned those  who  denied  that  it  conferred  a  gratia. 
On  the  questions  respecting  purgatory,  saints,  relics 


518       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

and  images  they  spoke  regretfully  of  the  abuses,  yet 
strongly  maintained  the  tradition,  indulging  the 
spirit  of  the  times  in  cautious  language.  Thus  did 
the  Church,  in  its  specific  secularization  as  a  sacrifi- 
cial, priestly  and  sacramental  institution,  round  itself 
out  by  the  Tridentine  decrees  and  never  once  sur- 
render its  idols  (See  on  the  practice  of  benedictions, 
sacraments  and  indulgences,  Gihr,  d.  h.  Messopfer, 
1887;  Schneider,  die  Ablässe,  1881).  The  decrees 
rooted  the  Church  firmly  in  the  soil  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  of  scholasticism :  Sacraments,  obedience, 
merit. 

2.  The   Post- Tridentine  Development  as  a  Prep- 
aration for   the  Vatican  Decrees. 

Denzinger,  Enchiridion,  5.  Aufl.,  1874. 
Curiaiism       The  questions  not  wholly  decided  at  Trent :  Curi- 

or  Episco- 
pacy?     alism   or   episcopacy,    Augustinianism    or    Jesuitic 

Pelagianism,  moral  law  or  probability,  continued 
to  agitate  the  three  following  centuries.  The  first 
question  became  a  double  one :  Pope  or  council,  papal 
decision  or  tradition.  The  Vatican  council  decided 
in  favor  of  curiaiism  and  therewith  also  for  Jesuit- 
ism. 
cate-  1.   (a)  At  Trent  the  opposition  between  the  curial- 

chismus 

Romanus.  ists  and  the  champions  of  episcopacy,  touching  the 
article  respecting  the  power  of  the  pope,  was  not 
permitted  to  come  to  a  decision  at  all ;  but  the  pro- 
fessio  fidei  Tridentinae  had  already  smuggled  the 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    519 

Romish  Church  and  the  pope  into  its  credo,  and  the 
Thomistic  Catechismus  Romanus  taught  papal  au- 
tocracy as  an  article  of  faith  ("  necessarium  fuit  hoc 
visibile  caput  ad  unitatem  ecclesiae  constituendam 
et  conservandam").  Yet  there  arose  a  vigorous  op- 
position, viz.,  in  the  France  of  Henry  IV.  and  Louis 
XIV.     Men  reverted  there  (Bossuet)  to  Gallicanism    Gaiiican- 

ism; 

(in  other  respects  also  the  Tridentine  decrees  were  not    Bossuet- 

unconditionally  accepted),  partly  in  the  interest  of 

the  king,  partly  in  that  of  the  nation  and  its  bishops 

(residence  of  the  bishops  divinojure).     As  to  the 

meaning  of  the  primacy,  which  was  allowed  to  pass, 

they  were  as  little  able  to  arrive  at  clearness  and 

unanimity  as  in  the  15th  century;  but  it  remained 

settled  that  the  king  and  the  bishops  should  rule  the 

French  church,  that  the  pope  has  nothing  to  say  about 

temporal  things,  and  that  in  spiritual  things  also  he 

is  bound  by  the  decisions  of  the  councils  (Constance), 

his  decisions  consequently  being  unalterable  only  by 

the  concurrence  of  the  Church  (Gallican  propositions 

of  1682).     The  popes  rejected  these  propositions,  but 

did  not  break  with  France.     At  the  end  of  his  life  Louis  xiv. 

the  great   king  himself  discounted  them,  without 

formally  withdrawing  them.     They  were  in  the  18th 

century  still  ever  a  power  until  the  monarch  who 

elevated  them  to  constitutional  law  (1810)  handed 

them  over  to  the  curia — Napoleon  I.     The  way  in    Napoleon 

which  he,  with  the  consent  of  the  popes,  shattered 

the  Church  and   ecclesiastical  organization    which 

were  overturned  by  the  revolution,  in  order  to  rebuild 


520       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


Romanti- 
cists. 


Ems1  Pro- 
gramme. 


Peace  of 
Vienna. 


Professio 
Fidei  Tri- 
dentinae. 


Jesuits. 


them  in  conjunction  with  the  latter,  was  by  a 
surrender  of  the  French  church  to  the  popes.  The 
emperor  did  not  intend  it  as  such,  but  such  it  was. 
The  romanticists  (de  Maistre,  Bonald,  Chateau- 
briand et  cd.)  completed  the  work  in  union  with  the 
restoration.  Gallicanism  was  exterminated.  In  so 
far  as  France  is  Catholic  to-day,  it  is  papal ;  however 
the  official  politics  also  watches  over  the  interests 
of  ultramontanism  in  foreign  lands.  In  Germany 
Febronius  (17G3)  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon 
curialism ;  but  since  the  one  wanted  an  arch-episco- 
pal national  church  (Ems'  "programme",  1786).  the 
other  state  churches  (Joseph  II.  et  al.),  nothing  actu- 
ally came  of  it.  The  old  Church  organization  and 
the  new  plan  for  restoring  it  went  down  in  the 
whirlpool  of  the  Napoleonic  epoch.  In  the  peace  of 
Vienna  a  new  Church  emerged,  which  the  Curia 
directed,  and  in  which  the  latter  with  the  help  of  the 
princes,  the  ultramontane  romanticists,  trustful  lib- 
erals and  Metternich  diplomatists  crushed  out  the 
remnant  of  episcopacy  and  of  national  churchdom. 

1.  (b)  The  professio  fidei  Tridentinae  had  already 
given  tradition  a  far  wider  range  than  the  Tridentine 
decrees  themselves  ("  apostolicas  et  ecclesiasticas 
traditiones  reliquasque  einsdem  ecclesiae  obser- 
vationes  et  constitutiones  firmissime  admitto  et 
amplector  ")  and  had  raised  it  above  the  Scriptures. 
The  Jesuits  subordinated  the  latter  more  and  more 
to  tradition  and  took  particular  pains  on  that  account 
to  formulate  the   inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  in  as 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    521 

loose  a  way  as  possible,  so  that  indeed  the  Vatican 
decrees  seem  to  have  done  away  with  the  contradic- 
tion. Modern  Catholicism,  however,  demands  both, 
— the  holding  of  Scriptural  tradition  as  inviolably 
sacred,  and  at  the  same  time  the  putting  of  the  finger 
cautiously  upon  its  insufficiency  and  its  defects. 
More  important  was  the  development  of  the  idea  of 
tradition.  In  theory  the  statement  was  firmly  main-  Tradition, 
tained  that  there  are  no  new  revelations  in  the 
Church ;  in  reality  the  gnostic  (secret  tradition)  and 
enthusiastic  tradition-principle,  against  which  how- 
ever the  Catholic  Church  once  arrayed  itself,  was 
ever  most  boldly  contended  for.     Bellarmine  was  as     .Bella,r- 

J  mine,   Cor- 

yet  timid ;  but  Cornelius  Mussus,  a  member  of  the  missus. 
Tri  dentine  council,  had  already  put  forth  the  asser- 
tion that  in  matters  of  faith  he  believed  one  pope 
more  than  a  thousand  Augustines  and  Jeromes.  The 
quite  new  article,  that  all  practices  of  the  Roman 
Church  are  tradition,  the  Jesuits  enlarged  by  the 
very  newest,  that  every  doctrinal  decision  of  the  pope 
is  tradition.  Here  and  there  in  truth  they  spoke 
disparagingly  in  regard  to  councils  and  proof  from 
tradition,  or  declared  the  best  attested  decrees  as  forg- 
eries, in  order  to  vanquish  history  by  the  dogma  con- 
cerning the  pope.  The  Church  itself  is  the  living  §J,up*Jf 
tradition,  the  Church  however  is  the  pope;  there- 
fore the  pope  is  the  tradition  (Pius  IX.).  And  he 
exercised  this  attribute  in  1854  by  the  proclamation 
of  the  immaculate  conception  of  the  virgin  Mary, 
thus  solving  an  old  contested  question  (seep.  449). 


522      OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 


That  which  could  not  be  accomplished  by  force  at 
Trent, propter  angustias  temporum,  rules  to-day, — 
an   heretical  principle  when  measured  by  Catholic 
antiquity. 
Augusts-        (2)  In  the  Catechismus  Romanus  (1566),  which 

ianism 

Laid  Aside.  ^e  Jesuits  gladly  adopted,  Augustin ianism  obtained 
its  last  official  monument.  Thenceforth  they  sought 
to  prove  that  the  doctrine  of  grace  received  its  sanc- 
tion through  the  world-shaping  practice  of  the  con- 
fessional. Already  in  the  year  1567  it  came  to  pass 
that  Pius  V.  rejected  the  79  articles  of  the  Lyons 
professor,  Bajus,  which  in  the  main  set  forth  the 
most  stringent  Augustinianism,  although  intermin- 
gled with  foreign  elements  and  otherwise  unfavora- 
ble to  the  Reformation.  A  long  and  heated  contro- 
versy arose  between  the  Dominicans  and  the  Jesuits. 
The  former  resisted  the  Jesuit  educational  system, 
condemned  the  most  objectionable  articles  of  the 
Jesuits  (Lessius  and  Hamel)  and  sought  to  maintain 
the  Thomistic  teaching  in  regard  to  the  gravity  of 
the  first  sin,  in  regard  to  concupiscence  and  the 
gratia  praeveniens.  The  latter  laid  particular  stress 
upon  free-will  and  the  "  disposition  ".  Among  them 
Molina  made  the  greatest  sensation  by  his  work: 
"  Liberi  arbitrii  cum  gratiae  donis,  divina  prae- 
scientia  .  .  .  praedestinatione  .  .  .  concordia" 
(1588).  He  attempted  to  read  semi-Pelagianism 
into  Augustinianism ;  in  reality  he  gave  the  latter 
away  altogether.  In  order  to  allay  the  stormy  con- 
troversy recourse  was  had  to  Rome.     She  had  no  in- 


Domini- 

cans  and 

Jesuits. 


Molina 
Revives 

S.-mi-Pela- 
gianism. 


THREE-FOLD  ISSUING  OP  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    523 

terest  in  the  thing  itself,  but  only  in  the  opportunity ; 
the  controversy  however  was  not  about  Augustine 
and  Pelagius,  but  about  Dominicans  and  Jesuits. 
Politics  required  that  neither  party  should  be  wholly 
sacrificed.     The  "  congregatio  de  auxiliis".  which   congrega- 

tio  De 

sat  from  1598  to  1607  (the  pope  during  the  same  time  {^^ 
being  intimidated  by  the  Jesuits) ,  was  finally  dis- 
solved without  its  arriving  at  a  decision  ("fore  ut 
sua  Sanctitas  declarationem  et  determinationem, 
quae  exspectabatur,  opportune  promulgar  et") .  The 
failure  to  decide  was  in  fact  a  victory  for  the  Jesuits. 

The  Jansenist  contest  was  still  worse.     In  Catho-    jansenist 

Con- 

lic  France,  which  had  expelled  the  Reformation  after  troversy. 
fearful  struggles,  an  earnest  piety  gradually  worked 
itself  out  alongside  the  frivolous  court  and  state 
Catholicism  and  the  lax  Jesuitism.  The  posthumous 
work  of  Bishop  Jansen  of  Ypres,  "Augustinus" 
(1640),  brought  the  same  to  an  historical  and  theo- 
logical halt.  This  piety  rose  right  up  in  order  to  free 
the  Church  from  the  Church,  the  faith  from  tradi- 
tional Christianity,  and  morality  from  the  refined 

and  lax  morality.     The   confessional  of  the  Jesuits     confes- 
sional 

seemed  to  it  to  be  the  real  enemy  (Pascal's  Letters:  Ap^Jd; 
"  Ecce  patres,  qui  tollunt  peccata  mundi ! ") .  The 
order  of  Jesus  was  able  to  hold  out  against  this  form- 
idable attack  only  by  assuming  the  offensive  and 
by  branding  the  pure  Augustinianism  of  Jansen  and 
his  friends  as  heresy  ("Jansenism").  The  popes 
allowed  themselves  to  gain  the  day.  Urban  VIII. 
("In  eminenti"),  but  above  all  Innocence  X.  ("  Cum 


524       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OP   DOGMA. 


ent  XI. 


Unigen- 
itus. 


occasioned)  and  Alexander  VII.  ("Ad  sancti  b. 
Petri  sedem")  forbade,  i.e.  condemned  Jansen' s  book. 
Innocent  indicated  besides  five  articles  of  Jansen 's 
as  objectionable.  Then  arose  a  violent  opposition : 
The  "  Jansenists"  refused  to  acknowledge  the  incrim- 
inating articles  as  Jansen's  and  to  condemn  them. 
Alexander    But  Alexander  VII.  required  it,  and  the  crown  sup- 

VII.,  Clem-  * 

ported  him.  After  a  temporary  compromise  (silen- 
tium  obsequiosum,  1668,  Clement  IX.),  Clement 
XI.  renewed  (1705)  the  sharp  bull  of  his  predecessors. 
Port  Koyal  was  destroyed.  Augustinianism,  how- 
ever, received  a  still  harder  blow  by  the  constitution 
"Unigenitus"  of  Clement  XI.  (1713).  In  this  101 
articles  from  a  devotional  work  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  Paschasius  Quesnel,  which  the  Jesuits  had 
extracted,  were  proscribed.  Among  them  were  not 
only  many  pure  Augustinian,  but  also  Pauline  ideas 
("  Nullae  dantur  gratiae  nisi  per  fidem" — "fides  est 
prima  gratia  et  fons  omnium  aliarum" — "prima 
gratia,  quam  deus  concedit  peccatori,  est  pecca- 
torum  remissio" — " peccator  non  est  liber  nisi  ad 
malum  sine  gratia  liberatoris",  etc.) .  Again  a  storm 
opposition  arose  in  France.     Those  receiving  and  those  opposing 

in  France  °  rr  ° 

Nether-  tne  kull  were  arrayed  against  each  other.  But  as 
ever  in  Catholicism — the  one  finally  surrendered  with 
a  sullied  conscience,  the  other  went  under  in  ecstasy 
and  fanaticism.  Only  in  the  Netherlands  had  there 
arisen,  through  the  Jansenian  contest,  a  schismatic 
old  Catholic  Church.  The  bull  Unigenitus,  con- 
firmed by  several  popes,  is  the  victory  of  Jesuitical 


lands. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    525 

dogmatics  over  Augustinian,  and  hence  is  the  final 
word  of  the  Catholic  history  of  dogma  (in  the  sense 
of  a  doctrine  of  faith).  As  in  the  19th  century  the 
last  remnant  of  Grallicanism  has  been  destroyed,  so 
also  has  that  of  Jansenism,  or  the  "after-mysticism", 
which  was  necessarily  evolved  out  of  Augustinianism 
and  quietism  and  is  assuredly  a  peril  to  the  Catholic 
Church.     The  proclamation  of  the  immaculate  con-    Dogma  of 

Immacu- 

ception  of  the  virgin  Mary  by  Pius  IX.  marks  the  option11" 
conclusion.  As  in  a  formal  way  (see  sub  1)  it  marks 
the  definite  exaltation  of  the  papacy,  so  in  a  material 
way  it  marks  the  expulsion  of  Augustinianism. 
The  indestructible  impulse  toward  inwardness,  con- 
templativeness  and  Christian  independence  Jesuitical 
Catholicism  now  employed  with  sensuous  media  of 
every  kind,  with  toys  and  miracles,  with  fraternities, 
disciplinary  exercises  and  scheduled  prayers,  and 
thereby  kept  it  harnessed  to  the  Church. 

(3)  Already  in  the  Middle  Ages  had  the  -juristic-    Jesuitical 

v    '  J  °  J  Casuistry. 

casuistic  spirit  of  the  Romish  Church  perniciously 
influenced  the  confessional,  ethics  and  dogmatics. 
The  nominalistic  theology  had  one  of  its  strong  roots 
in  this  juristic  casuistry  {i.e.  in  probability).  The 
Jesuits  took  it  up  and  in  a  manner  cultivated  it, — 
this,  which  several  times  had  jeopardized  the  pope 
himself  and  even  the  members  of  their  own  order 
(Döllinger  and  Reusch,  Gesch.  der  Moralstreitigk. 
seit  d.  16.  Jahrh.  1880).  The  Dominican  Bartholo- 
mäus de  Medina  was  the  first  to  expound  "  probabil- 
ity" "  scientifically"  (1577).     The  formula  runs  thus : 


526      OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

"  Si  est  opinio  probabilis,  licitum  est  earn  sequi, 
licet  opposita  sit  probabilior".  Seldom  has  a  word 
so  set  things  on  fire.  It  was  the  freeing  of  morality 
from  morality,  of  religion  from  religion.  Already 
proba-      about  1G00  probability  was  evidenced  as  the  domi- 

bility  Dom- 
inates,     nating  view,  but   was   especially   cultivated  by   the 

Jesuits.  Within  the  realm  of  faith  it  exhibited 
itself,  (1)  As  laxity  (in  respect  of  the  granting  of 
absolution) ,  (2)  As  attritionism  (fear  of  punishment). 
A  great  array  of  sub-species  was  deduced :  Lax,  pure, 
and  rigorous  probability,  aequi-probability,  greater 
probability,  lax  and  stringent  prudence.  The  differ- 
ences among  the  first  six  are  fundamentally  very 
slight;  the  last — which  alone  is  ethical — was  ex- 
pressly rejected  by  Alexander  VIII.  in  1690.     The 

Doctrine  is  whole  system  is  Talmudic;  very  likely  from  the 
Middle  Ages  on  there  has  been  an  actual  connec- 
tion between  the  two.  Jansenism,  above  all  Pascal, 
rose  in  opposition  to  the  destruction  of  morality.  It 
brought  it  to  pass  that  "  probabilism"  was  repressed 
after  the  middle  of  the  17th  century.  Several  popes 
forbade  the  laxest  moral-theological  books ;  Innocent 
XI.  condemned,  in  1679,  65  articles  of  the  "proba- 
bilists",  among  which  were  true  knavish  tricks  (see 
Denzinger,  Enchiridion,  pp.  213  seq.  217,  218  seq.). 
The  worse  seemed  to    be  warded    off  at  the  time 

GTonSe1  wnen>  in  tlie  Jesuit  order  itself,  Thyrsus  Gonzales 
again  revived  the  doctrine  (in  1687  he  became  the  gen- 
eral). Still  Jansenism  and  anti-probabilism  were 
blended.     As  the  former  fell   the  latter  was  neces- 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    527 

sarily  weakened.  The  popes  had  as  regards  "  attri- 
tionism"  also  reduced  it  to  a  mere  neutrality.  Out  of 
this  fountain  probabilism  burst  forth  anew  in  the 
18th  century.  The  founder  of  the  "  order  of  redemp- 
tionists",  Alphons  Liguori  (beatified  1816,  canonized     Aiphons 

Liguori. 

1839,  doctor  of  the  Church  1871),  became  through  his 
books  the  most  influential  teacher  in  the  Church. 
He  succeeded  in  modern  Catholicism  to  the  place 
once  occupied  by  Augustine.  He  was,  however, 
an  aequi-probabilist,  i.e.  probabilist,  and  no  Pascal 
came  forth  any  more. 


3.  The  Vatican  Decrees. 

The  Church  which  had  destroyed  episcopacy  and  ,x^alli"f 
Augustinianism  within  itself  built  up  probabilism  Pope* 
and  the  Church  which,  in  union  with  the  political  re- 
action and  romanticism,  had  exalted  the  pope  to 
lordship  over  herself  and  proclaimed  him  as  the  liv- 
ing tradition  was  finally  ripe  for  the  dogma  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  pope.  The  bishops  acknowledged 
through  the  Vatican  council  (18G9-70),  that  the 
primacy  is  real  and  direct,  that  the  pope  possesses 
the  potestas  ordinaria  et  immediata  as  plena  et  su- 
prema  over  the  whole  Church,  and  that  this  power  is 
episcopal  in  the  fullest  sense.  Of  this  universal  bishop 
they  confessed  on  the  18th  of  July,  1870:  "  Docemus  Ju^th, 
et  divinitus  revelatum  dogma  esse  definimus:  Ro- 
manian Pontificem,  quum  ex  cathedra  loquitur  id 
est  quum  omnium  Christianorum  pastoris  et  doc- 


528       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

toris  munere  fugens  pro  suprema  sua  qpostolica 
auctoritate  doctrinam  de  fide  vel  moribus  ab  uni- 
versal, ecclesia  tenendum  definit,  per  assistentiam 
divinam,  ipsi  in  b.  Petro  promissam,  ea  infalli- 
bilitate  pollere,  qua  divinus  redemptor  ecclesiam 
suam  in  definienda  doctrina  de  fide  vel  moribus 
instructam  esse  voluit,  ideoque  eiusmodi  Romani 
pontificis  definitiones  ex  sese,  non  autem  ex  con- 
sensu ecclesiae,  irr  ef or  mobiles  esse.  Si  quis  au- 
tem huic  nostrae  definitioni  contradicere,  quod 
deus  avertat,  praesumpserit,  anathema  sit"  (Fried- 
rich,  Gesch.  d.  vatic.  Concils,  3  Bde.  1877  seq.). 
protest  The  bishops  who  spoke  in  opposition  soon  submitted. 
The  number  of  those  who  refused  to  accept  the  new 
dogma  was  and  is  small  (see  Schulte,  Der  Altkatho- 
licismus,  1887).  The  new  doctrine  is  in  reality  the 
cap-stone  of  the  building.  Others  may  follow,  e.g. 
the  temporal  dominion  of  the  pope  as  an  article  of 
faith ;  but  it  can  have  no  effect.  The  Romish  Church 
has  revealed  itself  as  the  autocratic  dominion  of  the 
pontifex  maximus — the  old  Roman  empire  taking 
possession  of  the  memory  of  Jesus  Christ,  founded 
upon  his  word  and  sacraments,  exercising  accord- 
ing to  need  an  elastic  or  iron  dogmatic  legal  disci- 
pline, encompassing  purgatory  and  heaven  in  ad- 
dition to  the  earth. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    529 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ISSUING  OF  THE  DOGMA  IN  ANTI-TRINITARIAN- 
ISM   AND   SOCINIANISM. 

1.  Historical  Introduction. 

Erbkam,  Gesch.  d.  protest.  Secten,  1848.  Carriere,  die 
philos.  Weltanschauung  d.  Ref-Zt.  2.  Aufl. ,  1887.  Trechsel, 
die  protest.  Antitrinitarier,  2  Bde. ,  1839  f. 

Sozzini  was  an  epigone  like  Calvin.     Socinianism,    socinian- 

'  ism. 

viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  history  of  the 
Church  and  of  dogma,  had  for  its  presuppositions  the 
great  anti-ecclesiastical  agitations  of  the  Middle 
Ages ;  but  the  Reformation  also  influenced  it.  It 
was  evolved  out  of  these  agitations;  it  explained 
them   and   reduced  them  to  a  unity.     A  Scotistic-    scotistic, 

Pelagian, 

Pelagian  element  and  a  critico-humanistic  are  blend-     Criü^al 

°  and  Hu- 

ed  in  it;  besides  one  perceives  also  an  anabaptis-  Elements, 
tic  element  (pantheistic,  enthusiastic,  mystic,  social- 
istic elements  are  wanting) .  In  it  the  critical  and 
rationalistic  thought  of  the  ecclesiastical  theologians 
of  the  14th  and  15th  centuries  also  have  a  freer  de- 
velopment; at  the  same  time,  however,  it  is  also  the 
result  of  the  impulses  of  the  new  age  (renaissance). 
The  characteristic  thing  in  the  anti-trinitarian  and 
Socinian  agitations  of  the  16th  century  is  that  they 
represent  the  very  same  destruction  of  Catholicism, 
which  it  were  possible  to  effect  upon  the  basis  of  the 
results  of  scholasticism  and  the  renaissance,  without 

ever  deepening  and  reviving  religion.     In  this  sense 
34 


530      OUTLINES   OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Scholasti- 
cism and 
Renais- 
sance 
Blended. 


Anti-Trini- 
tarian  and 
Anabaptist 
Groups. 


Schwenk- 
feld, Gior- 
dano 
Bruno. 


is  Socinianism  also  an  issue  of  the  history  of  dogma. 
Therein  the  middle  age  and  the  modern  strike  hands 
across  the  Reformation.  The  apparently  unrecon- 
cilable,  the  union  of  scholasticism  and  the  renais- 
sance, is  here  actually  accomplished.  On  that  very 
account  there  is  also  not  wanting  therein  a  prophetic- 
al element.  In  these  agitations  a  great  deal  was 
anticipated  with  marvellous  certainty  which  in  the 
evangelical  Churches,  following  transient  articles, 
seems  entirely  suppressed,  since  in  them  the  interest 
in  religion  under  a  concise  form  absorbed  everything 
for  the  space  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Anti- 
trinitarianism  and  Socinianism  are  more  enlightened 
and  free  (aufgeklärt)  than  ecclesiastical  Protest- 
antism, but  less  capable  of  development  and  poorer. 

Only  a  hasty  review  will  here  be  given.  Common 
to  all  the  anti-trinitarian  and  anabaptist  groups  of 
Churches  is  the  violent  break  with  history,  the  re- 
nunciation of  the  Church  as  it  then  existed  and  the 
conviction  of  the  right  of  the  individual.  From  the 
most  diverse  starting-points  they  not  seldom  arrive 
at  the  same  results,  since  the  spirit  which  animated 
them  has  been  the  same.  The  first  group  allied 
itself  with  the  pantheistic  mysticism  and  the  new 
creation  of  the  renaissance :  Not  notions  but  facts, 
not  formulas  but  life,  not  Aristotle  but  Plato,  not  the 
letter  but  the  spirit.  The  inner  light  was  placed 
alongside  the  Bible,  free  conviction  above  the  formal 
statement.  The  Church  dogmas  were  either  modified 
or  allowed  to  lapse.     Freed  from  the  burden  of  the 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    531 

past  and  guided  by  the  Gospel,  many  swung  out  into    Sebastian 
the  free  kingdom  of  the  Spirit,  while  others  were    Thamerl1 
caught  in  the  meshes  of  their  own  fancies.     To  these 
belong  Schwenkfeld,  V.  Weigel,  Giordano  Bruno, 
and     above    all    Sebastian    Franck    and    Theobald 
Thamer.     A  second  group  that  cannot  be  overlooked   Minorites, 

Walclen- 

had  its  strength  in  its  opposition  to  political  and  sians- 
sacramental  Catholicism  and  over  against  the  same 
it  carried  on  a  new  social-political  world  and  church 
system  (apocalyptic  and  chiliastic).  "Within  this  the 
enthusiastic  minorite,  Waldensian,  etc.,  churches 
continued  to  flourish.  Their  badge  was  rebaptism. 
Carried  forward  in  many  respects  by  means  of  Ref- 
ormation principles,  this  baptismal  Christianity 
played  a  very  important  role  until  the  catastrophe  at 

Münster  and  even  afterward.     In  a  third,  really  a  Italian  Hu- 
manists. 

Romance  (Italian)  group,  the  consequent  development 
of  nominalistic  scholasticism  was  carried  forward 
under  the  influence  of  humanism ;  submission  to  the 
Church  ceased;  moralism,  interpreted  humanisti- 
cally and  in  part  evangelically,  survived.  The  old 
dogma  and  sacramentarianism  were  cast  aside;  but 
an  historical  element  was  admitted :  Return  to  the 
primitive  sources,  to  the  philological  sense,  to  re- 
spect for  the  classical  in  everything  that  is  called 
antiquity.  The  religious  motive  in  the  deepest  sense 
was  wanting  in  these  Italians;  and  they  did  not 
carry  the  movement  forward  to  a  national  agitation. 
This  and  the  first  group  stand  in  many  respect*  in 
Strong  contrast,  in  so  far  as  the  former  did  homage 


532      OUTLINES  OF   THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


Michael 
Servetus. 


Attitude 

Toward 

Catholic 

Authority 

and 

Trinity. 


Bible 
Made 
Founda- 
tion. 


to  speculative  mysticism  and  the  latter  to  rational 
thought.  Still  the  humanistic  interests  not  only 
united  them  by  a  common  bond,  but  out  of  the  specu- 
lative mysticism  a  pure  mode  of  thought  was  devel- 
oped through  experience,  upon  which  stress  was  laid ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  temperate  Italian  think- 
ers under  the  influence  of  the  new  era  stripped  off  the 
crudities  of  that  fanciful  mythology  in  which  the 
earlier  nominalism  had  paraded.  This  combination 
is  most  significantly  represented  by  the  Spaniard, 
Michael  Servetus.  In  his  theology  is  united  the 
best  of  all  that  came  to  maturity  in  the  16th  century, 
if  one  speaks  only  of  that  which  lay  outside  of  the 
evangelical  Reformation. 

With  reference  to  all  these  groups  the  history  of 
dogma  should  keep  two  main  points  in  view :  Their 
relation,  (1)  To  the  formal  authorities  of  Catholicism, 
(2)  To  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  and  Christology. 
Concerning  the  first  point  they  did  away  with  the 
authority  of  the  Church,  the  present  and  the  future, 
as  a  teacher  and  a  judge.  The  attitude  toward  the 
Scriptures  remained  obscure.  Men  played  them  off 
against  tradition  and  stood  with  unheard-of  steadfast- 
ness by  the  letter;  on  the  other  hand,  the  authority  of 
the  Scriptures  was  derived  from  that  of  the  inner  reve- 
lation, yes,  they  were  also  wholly  set  aside.  Still  as 
a  rule  their  unique  value  remained  unshaken ;  Socin- 
ianism  planted  itself  firmly  upon  the  Scriptures. 
Against  these  rocks  also  the  Reformers  of  the  16th 
century— certain    remarkable    men     excepted    who 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    533 

really  understood  what  the  freedom  of  a  Christian 
man  is — did  not  dare  to  get  seriously  jostled.  The 
contradiction  in  which  Protestantism  had  become 
involved  is  found,  it  is  true,  in  most  of  the  Re- 
formers: A  comprehensive  collection  of  Scriptures 
set  up  as  an  absolute  norm,  but  the  right  understand- 
ing of  the  same  left  to  the  painful  efforts  of  each  in- 
dividual.— As  regards  anti-trinitarianism  the  devel-  Anti-Trini- 

tarianisin. 

opment  was  carried  forward  in  all  four  groups,  but 
in  different  ways.  In  the  first  group  it  was  not 
aggressive,  but  latitudinarian  (as  with  the  earlier 
mystics  who  also  indeed  recognized  only  "  modi"  in 
the  trinity,  considered  the  incarnation  as  a  special 
instance  and  saw  in  the  dogma  in  any  event  only 
veiled    truth) .     In    the    second,    anabaptist   group       ■**»- 

DäptlStS. 

anti-trinitarianism  is  as  a  rule  a  relatively  subordi- 
nate element,  although  it  is  perhaps  nowhere  entirely 
wanting.  It  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  the  impor- 
tant reformer  Denck,  on  the  other  hand  it  is  clearer 
in  Hätzer,  plainer  still  in  Campanus,  D.  Joris  and 
Melchior  Hoffmann,  who  moreover  all  constructed 
their  own  doctrine  of  the  trinity.  The  doctrine  of 
the  trinity  was  in  reality  grappled  with  at  its  root, 
i.e.  at  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  only  by  the  Italians 
(Pietro  Menelfl),  that  is  to  say,  within  the  third 
group.  The  union  of  humanism  and  the  nominal- 
istic-Pelagian  theological  deposit  produced  in  Italy 
as  a  real  factor  in  the  historical  movement  an  anti- 
trinitarianism  in  the  sense  of  adoptionism  or  Arian- 
ism.     The  setting  aside  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Di- 


534       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


Calvin. 


Of 


Divinity  of  vinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  trinity  was  considered 
Christ  .n 

Rejected.  here  as  the  most  important  purification  and  emanci- 
pation of  religion.  In  its  place  stepped  the  created 
Christ  and  the  one  God;  in  support  of  the  same, 
Scripture  proofs  were  sought  for  and  found  (cf .  the 
Roman  Theodotians  of  antiquity) .  A  whole  herd  of 
learned  and  for  the  most  part  very  respectable  anti- 
trinitarians  drove  Italy  in  the  middle  of  the  16th 
century  beyond  its  own  bounds:  Camillo  Renato, 
Blandrata,  Gentilis,  Occhino,  the  two  Sozzini,  etc. 
In  Switzerland  the  contest  about  the  right  of  anti- 
trinitarianism  in  the  evangelical  churches  was 
fought  out.  Calvin  decided  against  it  and  burnt 
Servetus.  In  Poland  and  Transylvania  the  doctrine 
found  freedom.  There  anti-trinitarian  churches  arose, 
indeed  in  Transylvania  it  was  permitted  to  Blan- 
drata to  secure  for  his  confession  a  formal  recogni- 
tion. Within  this  anarchy  freedom  of  conscience 
also  found  a  place  of  abode.  Unitarianism,  as  Blan- 
drata taught  it,  saw  in  Christ  a  man  chosen  by  God 
and  exalted  to  God.  A  split  soon  made  its  appear- 
ance. The  left  wing  rejected  the  miraculous  birth 
also  and  the  worship  of  Jesus  (non-adorationism) . 
Its  chief  champion  was  Franz  Davidis.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  counteracting  this  tendency,  Fausto  Sozzini 
(Socinius)  went  in  1578  to  Transylvania  and  actually 
suppressed  it.  There  and  in  Poland  he  constructed 
out  of  the  anabaptist,  socialistic,  chiliastic,  liber- 
tinistic  and  non-adoration  congregations  a  church 
upon  the  basis  of  a  comprehensive  Biblical  dogmatics. 


Unitarian- 
ism. 


Fausto 
Sozzini. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    535 

After  a  history  rich  in  dramatic  episodes  Poland 
unitarianism  in  union  with  Netherland  Armenian- 
ism  found  in  England  and  America  an  abode  and 
brought  forth  remarkable  men.  Nevertheless  it  was 
inspired  there  more  and  more  by  the  evangelical 
spirit. 

2.   The  Socinian  Doctrine. 
Fock,  cler  Socinianismus,  1847. 

Socinian  Christianity  is  seen  best  in  the  Racovian    Racovian 

^  Catechism. 

Catechism  (1009).  Religion  is  the  complete  and 
correct  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  This 
is  to  be  obtained  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  an 
outer,  statutory  revelation,  more  particularly  from 
the  New  Testament.  The  Christian  religion  is  the 
theology  of  the  New  Testament,  but  it  is  at  the 
same  time  a  rational  religion.  The  Book  and  the 
reason  are  the  stamina  of  the  Socinian  doctrine. 
Hence  the  proof  of  the  certitudo  sacrarum  litter- 
arum  is  a  principal  problem  of  this  supernatural  ^PfjgJ" 
rationalism.  It  succeeds  to  the  place  formerly  occu-  tl0nahsm- 
pied  by  the  proof  from  tradition.  The  claims  of  the 
New  Testament  (the  Old  Testament  was  only  passed 
along)  should  be  demonstrated  to  the  reason,  not  to 
piety.  The  New  Testament  however  is  sufficient,  jj^^JJi. 
since  faith  which  works  through  love  is  comprised 
"  quantum  satis"  within  it.  This  faith  however  is 
faith  in  the  existence  of  God  and  in  his  rewards  (cf. 
nominalism) ;  love  is  the  moral  law.  The  Scriptures 
however  are  also  plain,  if  one  considers  them  with 


536        OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 


Old 
Catholic 
Element. 


Notitia 
Dei. 


the  understanding  ("  itaque  cum  sacras  litteras 
sufficere  ad  solidem  dicimus,  rectam  rationem  non 
tantum  non  excludimus,  sed  omnino  includimus") . 
The  way  of  salvation  man  cannot  of  himself  find, 
since  he  is  mortal  (old  Catholic  element).  God's 
image  within  him  consists  solely  in  his  dominion 
over  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Not  temporal,  but  eter- 
nal death  came  into  the  world  through  sin.  Finally, 
however,  man  is  not  able  to  discover  the  way  of  sal- 
vation, because  he  "  ex  solo  dei  arbitrio  ac  concilio 
pependit" ;  therefore  must  it  be  given  through  an 
outer  revelation  (cf .  nominalism) .  With  fear,  love 
and  trust  we  have  nothing  to  do,  but  only  with  noti- 
tia dei  and  the  law  of  the  holy  life,  which  must  have 
been  revealed.  The  notitia  dei  is  the  knowledge  of 
God  as  the  supreme  Lord  over  all  things,  who  "pro 
arbitrio  leges ponere  etpraemia  ac  poenas  statuere 
potest"  (cf.  nominalism).  The  most  important  thing 
Knowledge  is  to  apprehend  God's  unity;  hut  "  nihil  prohibet, 
important"  Qriiominus  ille  unus  deus  imperium  potestatemque 
cum  aliis  communicare  possit  et  communicaverit" 
(cf .  the  old  subordinationists  and  Arians) .  The  at- 
tributes of  God  are  developed,  without  reference  to 
faith  in  salvation,  out  of  the  conception  of  the  "  su- 
premus  dominus"  and  the  "summe  Justus"  (cf. 
nominalism).  Very  necessary  to  salvation,  if  not 
absolutely  necessary,  is  the  perception  of  the  value- 
lessness  of  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity.  Ante  legem 
et  per  legem  did  men  already  apprehend  the  creation 
of  the  world  through  God,  the  providence  of  God  de 


anism. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OP  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    537 

singulis  rebus  ( !),  the  reward  and  the  Divine  will  (in 
the  decalogue). 

The  notitia  Christi  divides  itself  into  knowledge     Notitia 

0  Christi. 

of  his  person  and  of  his  office.  In  respect  of  the 
first  it  is  concerned  with  the  perception  that  God 
Jias  redeemed  us  through  a  man  (cf .  the  hypothetical 
articles  of  nominalism) .  Christ  was  a  mortal  man 
who  was  sanctified  by  the  Father,  endowed  with 
Divine  wisdom  and  power,  raised  from  the  dead,  and 
finally  exalted  to  like  power  with  God.  This  is  the 
exegetical  result  of  the  New  Testament.  God  sent 
him  in  order  to  lift  men  up  into  a  new  state,  i.  e.  to 
exalt  the  mortal  unto  immortality  (early  Church  idea; 
cf .  especially  the  Antiochians) .  This  was  an  arbi-  A„nM°c'hi> 
trary  decree  of  God,  and  the  bringing  of  the  same 
to  pass  (miraculous  birth,  resurrection)  was  quite  as 
arbitrary.  Christ  as  a  prophet  completed  the  trans- 
mission of  the  perfect  Divine  law  (explaining  and 
deepening  of  the  decalogue),  declaring  with  certainty 
the  promise  of  eternal  life  and  verifying  by  his  death 
the  example  of  a  perfect  moral  life,  after  that  he  had 
complied  with  certain  sacramental  ordinances.  By 
his  preaching  he  gave  a  strong  impulse  toward  the 
observance  of  the  Divine  will  and  at  the  same  time 
established  the  general  purpose  of  God  to  forgive  the 
sins  of  the  penitent  and  of  those  striving  to  live 
more  uprightly  (cf.  nominalism).  Inasmuch  as  no  Nommai- 
one  can  perfectly  keep  the  Divine  law,  justification 
comes,  not  through  works,  but  through  faith.  This 
faith,  however,  is  trust  in  the  Law-giver,  who  has 


isru. 


538       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

set  before  us  a  glorious  end,  eternal  life,  and  has 
awakened  through  the  Holy  Spirit  the  future  cer- 
tainty of  this  life;  furthermore,  it  is  reliance  on 
Christ,  who,  clothed  with  Divine  power,  truly  frees 
those  from  sin  who  put  their  trust  in  him.  In  par- 
Elements  ticular  is  noteworthy :  (1)  The  refined,  in  many  re- 
spects, excellent  criticism  of  ecclesiastical  Christology 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  reason 
— the  Scripture  statements  in  regard  to  the  pre- 
existence  of  Christ  raised,  it  is  true,  some  difficulties 
— ,  (2)  The  attempt  to  set  forth  the  work  of  Christ  in 
accordance  with  the  scheme  of  the  three  offices,  and 
the  acknowledged  inability  to  extend  it  beyond  his 
prophetical  office.  Within  the  limits  of  the  latter 
everything  was  in  reality  handled :  "  Comprehendit 
tum  praecepta,  tum  promissa  dei  perfecta,  tum 
denique  modem  ac  rationem,  qui  nos  et  praeceptis 
et  promissionibus  dei  confirmare  debeamus" .  Be- 
yond this,  however,  Socinianism  knew  nothing.  The 
Praecepta.  " praecepta"  are  the  interpreted  decalogue,  with  the 
addition  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  the  special  com- 
mandments of  the  sure  and  steadfast  peace  in  God 
through  prayer,  praise  and  reliance  on  God's  help, 
abstinence  from  love  of  the  world  as  well  as  self- 
denial  and  patience.  Thereto  are  to  be  added  the 
Baptism     special  ceremonial  commands,  viz.  :  Baptism  and  the 

and  Lord's  7  r 

supper.  Lord's  Supper.  The  former  is  confession,  duty  and 
symbol ;  the  forgiveness  of  sin  was  also  thought  of 
for  the  sake  of  the  Scriptures  in  a  disgraceful  man- 
ner, and  infant  baptism  was  discarded,  yet  endured 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    539 


Dei. 


(because  it  has  to  do  with  a  ceremony) .     The  Lord's 
Supper,  by  the  laying  aside  of  all  other  views,  was 
conceived  of  as  an  ordained  memorial  meal.     The 
promissa  dei  are  the  promise  of  eternal  life  and  of    Promissa 
the  Holy   Spirit.     In  setting  forth  this  last  Socin- 
ianism  did  great  service,  contrary-wise  it  gave  to  the 
forgiveness  of  sin  an  ambiguous  meaning.  In  opposi- 
tion to  the  evangelical  view  it  taught :  "  In  vita  aeter- 
no, simul  comprehensa  est  peccatorum  remissio". 
This  eternal  life  was  only  very  superficially  described, 
and  the  fundamental  Catholic  thought  in  Socinianism 
crops  out   in   the    article  that  the   Holy   Spirit  is 
granted  only  in  proportion  to  moral  progress.    To  the 
question  as  to  how  Christ  has  effectually  guaranteed 
the  commands  and  the  promises,  it  was  replied  :    (1) 
Through  his  sinlessness,  (2)  Through  his  miracles,  (3) 
Through  his  death.     The  latter  was  considered  as  a 
proof  of  his  love,  and  then  in  an  extended  manner 
the  satisfaction-theory  was  contested.     Herein  lies 
the  strength  of  Socinianism.     Although  one  cannot 
accept  a  great  many  of  its  arguments,  because  they 
are  founded  upon  the  Scotistic  idea  of  God,  yet  one 
must   acknowledge    that    the  juristic    satisfaction- 
theory  is  here  really  answered.     The  thought  of  the 
merit  of  Christ  is  retained.  But  how  meagre  is  it  when 
the  catechism,  once  more  reverting  to  faith,  explains :  Dj5jJSJ  of 
"  Fides  obedientiam  nostram  deo  commendatiorem 
gratioremque  facit  et  obedientiae  defectus,  modo 
ea  sit  vera  ac  seria,  supplet,  utque  a  deo  justifi- 
cemur  efficit".     This  is  in  complete  contrast  with 


Christ's 
Sinless- 
ness, 
Miracles, 
Death. 


540       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA. 

evangelical  ideas  concerning  faith.  That  which  is 
afterward  said  about  justification  is  a  worthless 
accommodation  of  Pauline  ideas.  Accommodations 
are,  in  general,  not  infrequent. — In  connection  with 
*t  cSSt*  tne  Priestty  office  of  Christ  the  permanent  priesthood 
of  Christ  is  emphasized,  while  that  which  transpired 
once  is  fundamentally  discarded.  Christ's  dominion 
over  all  beings  and  things  is  very  briefly  touched 
upon. 

At  the  close  the  catechism  reverts  to  the  Church 
and  defines  it  once  more  as  a  school :  "  Coetus  eorum 
hominum,  qui  doctrinam  salutarem  tenent  et  pro- 
fitentur."  Pastors  (doctors)  and  deacons  are  neces- 
sary to  the  Church ;  but  nothing  is  said  about  ordina- 
tion, and  the  episcopal  succession  is  contested.  The 
reflections  on  the  visible  and  invisible  Church  are 
indefinite  and  unclear. 


Doctrine  of 
Church. 


Socinian- 

ism 
Dissolves 
Dogma. 


In  Socinianism  the  dissolution  of  dogma  is  exem- 
plified upon  Catholic  soil,  as  in  Romanism  the  neu- 
tralization. In  the  place  of  tradition  the  external  rev- 
elation in  the  Bible  steps  in.  Religion,  in  so  far  as 
it  is  apprehensible,  is  swallowed  up  in  moralism. 
Still  there  remain  fortunate  inconsistencies  and 
Socinianism  presents,  even  apart  from  these,  a  pleas- 
ing side :  (1)  It  had  the  courage  to  simplify  the  ques- 
tions concerning  the  reality  and  content  of  religion 
and  to  discard  the  burden  of  the  ecclesiastical  past, 
(2)  It  broke  the  contracted  bond  between  religion  and 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    541 

science,  between  Christianity  and  Platonism,  (3)  It 
helped  to  spread  the  idea  that  the  religious  state- 
ment of  truth  must  be  clear  and  apprehensible,  if  it 
is  to  have  power,  (4)  It  tried  to  free  the  study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  from  bondage  to  the  old  dogmas. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   ISSUING   OF   THE   DOGMA   IN   PROTESTANTISM. 

1.  Introduction. 

Post-TRIDENTINE  Catholicism  and  Socinianism  are    Reforma- 
tion Resto- 
in  many  respects  modern  phenomena,  but  as  regards    ratj?n.  of 

their  religious  kernel  they  are  not  modern,  but  much 

rather  the  consequences  of  mediaeval  Christianity. 

The  Reformation  as  represented  in  the  Christianity 

of  Luther  is  still  in  many  respects  an  old  Catholic 

phenomenon,  not  to  say  also  a  mediaeval;  yet  judged 

by  its  religious  kernel,  it  is  neither,  but  much  rather 

a  restoration  of  Pauline  Christianity  in  the  spirit  of 

a  new  age.     On   this  account   it  hai3pens  that   the 

Reformation  cannot  be  judged  solely  by  the  results 

which  it  gained  during  the  first  two  generations  of 

its  existence ;  for  it  did  not  begin  as  a  harmonious 

and  consistent  manifestation.     Luther's  Christianity   ^^gj. 

was  the  Reformation;  within  the  periphery  of  his  ex-    Reforma- 
tion. 
istence,  however,  Luther  was  an  old  Catholic-mediaev- 
al phenomenon.     The  period  from  1519  to  1523,  the 
most  beautiful  years  of  the  Reformation  when  it  stood 
in  living  relations  with  all  men  and  seemed  to  intro- 


542       OUTLINES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA, 


Luther's 
Message. 


Restores 

Gospel 

Religion. 


Revivifies 
Catholic 
Dogmas. 


duce  a  new  order  of  things,  was  only  an  episode. 
Luther  soon  drew  back  again  within  his  limitations. 
These  were  not,  however,  a  mere  thin  shell,  so  that 
Melanchthon  and  the  epigonoi  could  have  forgiven 
the  shrinkage;  but  Luther  realized  that  they  were 
bound  up  with  the  very  sinews  of  his  power  and  he 
asserted  them  with  this  understanding. 

Luther's  greatness  consists  in  the  knowledge  of 

God  which  he  re-discovered  in  the  Gospel.     Living 

faith  in  God  who  in  Christ  says  to  the  poor  soul: 

"Salus  tua  ego  sum",  the  certain  assurance  that 

God  is  the  being  upon  whom  man  may  absolutely 

rely — that  was  Luther's   message  to   Christendom. 

He  restored  the  religious  view  of  the  Gospel,  the 

sovereign  right  of  religion  in  religion,  the  sovereign 

worth   of    the   historical   Person    Jesus    Christ    in 

Christianity.     In  doing  this  he  went  back  beyond 

the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  old  Catholic 

times  to  the  ISTew  Testament,  yes,   to  the   Gospel 

itself.      But  the  very  man   who  freed  the   Gospel 

of  Jesus  Christ  from  ecclesiasticism  and  moralism 

strengthened  the  force  of  the  latter  under  the  forms 

of  the  old  Catholic  theology,   yes,  he  gave  to  these 

forms,  ivhich  for  centuries  had  lain   dormant, 

once  again  a  value  and  a  meaning.     He  was  the 

restorer  of  the  old  dogmas  and  he  gave  them  back  to 

faith.     One  must  credit  it  to  him  that  these  formulas 

are  even  until  to-day  a  living  power  in  the  faith  of 

Protestantism,  while  in  the  Catholic  Churches  they 

are  a  dead  weight.     One  will  do  justice  to  the  "  en- 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF   HISTORY   OF   DOGMA.    543 

tire  Luther  "  only  by  allowing  his  two-fold  relation 
to  the  old  Catholic  theology  to  stand  and  by  try- 
ing to  explain  it.  Luther  turned  his  contemporaries 
aside  from  the  path  of  the  humanistic,  Franciscan 
and  political  Christianity  and  compelled  them  to  in- 
terest themselves  in  that  which  was  most  foreign  to 
them — the  Gospel  and  the  old  theology.  He  pro- 
claimed the  Gospel  anew  and  was  able  to  defend  the 
"  Quicunque  vult  salvus  esse "  of  the  Athanasian 
creed  with  a  full  voice. 

In  order  to  understand  his  attitude,  one  may  refer     contests 

J  Mediaeval 

to  the  following:  (1)  The  difficulties  about  which  Doctrines- 
there  was  a  contest  flowed  especially  from  mediaeval 
theology,  and  Luther's  historical  horizon  shut  down 
about  the  time  of  the  origin  of  the  papal  Church ; 
that  which  lay  back  of  this  was  blended  for  him  at 
many  points  with  the  golden  horizon  of  the  New 
Testament,  (2)  Luther  never  contended  against  er-    contends 

'    v    '  ö  for  Puritas 

roneous  theories  and  doctrines  as  such,  but  only  Evan^ehl- 
against  those  theories  and  doctrines  which  plainly 
vitiated  the  puritas  evangelii;  in  him  there  did  not 
dwell  the  irresistible  impulse  of  the  thinker  who 
strives  after  theoretical  clearness ;  much  rather  did 
he  have  an  instinctive  dislike  and  an  inborn  distrust 
of  that  spirit  which,  guided  solely  by  knowledge, 
shrewdly  corrects  errors ;  he  also  by  no  means  pos- 
sessed all  the  endowments  and  critical  facilities  of 
the  age — "  sublimement  borne,  gauchement  savant, 
terriblement  naif",  this  hero  has  been  called  by  one     ±ccepta 

Old 

who  knows  men,  (3)  The  old  dogma  corresponded  to     Dogmas. 


544       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

the  new  conception  of  the  Gospel  which  he  preached ; 
he  wanted  the  correct  faith  and  nothing  else ;  the 
ancient  dogma,  however,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
mediaeval,  represented  Christianity  not  as  a  conflu- 
ence of  faith  and  works  (the  latter  did  not  belong  to 
the  dogma) ,  of  grace  and  merit,  but  rather  as  the  act 
of  God  through  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  and  eternal  life.  Luther  saw  only  this 
element  in  the  old  dogma ;  he  overlooked  all  else. 

Reforma-  Hence  he  conceived  his  mission  as  that  of  a  reformer : 
n  j.  jj.  jg  necessary  only  to  place  upon  the  lamp-stand 
that  which  the  Church  already  possesses,  but  has  lost 
sight  of  among  its  other  possessions;  it  is  neces- 
sary to  restore  the  Gospel  of  the  free  grace  of  God 
in  Christ  by  a  rehabilitation  of  the  ancient  dogma. 

tes^uitsof       "Yyas  jie  rearjy   right?      Did  his  new  conception 

of  the  Gospel  fall  in  naturally  with  the  ancient 
dogma?  Men  insist  upon  this  even  to-day, — it 
is  true  with  more  or  less  uncertainty  and  with  the 
qualification,  that  Luther  added  an  important  ele- 
ment, viz.,  the  doctrine  of  justification.  But  did  he 
not  do  away  with  the  infallible  Church  tradition, 
with  the  infallible  Church  office,  with  the  infallible 
canon  of  Scripture?  And  must  his  conception  of 
the  Gospel  be  still  clothed  with  the  old  dogma? 
Wherein  consists  that  conception?  How  far  did  his 
criticism  of  tradition  go?  What  did  he  retain? 
Was  his  attitude  altogether  consistent,  or  is  the 
present  state  of  Protestantism,  which  is  so  full  of  in- 
consistencies and  errors,  to  be  traced  back  to  him? 


Labors. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OP   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    545 


2.  Luther's  Christianity. 

Luther's  Theologie  von  Köstlin,  Th.  Harnack,  Lommatzsch. 
Herrmann,  der  Verkehr  des  Christen  mit  Gott,  1886.  Ritschi, 
Rechtfertigung  u.  Versöhnung,  Bd.  I.  u.  III.  Kattenbusch, 
Luther's  Stellung  zu  den  ökumenischen  Symbolen,  1883. 
Gottschick,  Luther's  Anschauung  von  christl.  Gottesdienst, 
1887.  Zur  altprotest.  Rechfert. — Lehre,  cf.  Loofs  und  Eichhorn 
i.  d.  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1884  u.  1887. 


In  the  cloister   Luther  thought  he  was  fighting 


Luther 
Wrestles 

with  himself  and  his  sins ;  but  in  reality  he  was    Jlgion  of 

his  Church. 

wrestling  with  the  religion  of  his  Church.  In  the 
system  of  sacraments  and  observances,  to  which  he 
subjected  himself,  he  did  not  find  the  assurance  of 
peace  which  he  sought.  Even  that  which  should 
have  given  him  consolation  revealed  itself  to  him 
as  an  object  of  terror.  In  such  distress  it  came 
to  him  slowly  and  gradually  through  the  corroded 
ecclesiastical  confession  ("I  believe  in  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins")  and  the  Holy  Scriptures,  what  the 
truth  and  power  of  the  Gospel  really  is.  Augustine's  tiding 
form  of  belief  concerning  the  first  and  last  things 
was  also  a  guiding  star  to  him.  But  how  much 
firmer  did  he  grasp  the  essence  of  the  thing !  That 
which  he  here  learned,  that  which  he  laid  hold  of 
with  all  the  strength  of  his  soul  as  the  sole  thing 
was  the  revelation  of  the  gracious  God  in  the  Gospel, 
i.e.  in  Christ.  The  same  experience  which  made 
Paul  Luther  underwent,  and  while  it  did  not  come 
to  the  latter  so  violently  and  suddenly  as   to  the 

former,  yet  he  also  learned  through  this  experience 
35 


546       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

that  it  is  God  who  bestows  faith:  "  Since  it  pleased 
God  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me." 
simplifies       That  which  he  experienced  he  afterwards  learned 

Religion.  s- 

to  express,  and  there  resulted,  when  measured 
by  the  multifarious  things  which  the  Church  prof- 
fered as  "religion",  primarily  a  stupendous  reduc- 
tion. Out  of  a  multiform  system  of  grace,  perform- 
ances, penances  and  reliances  he  extracted  religion 
and  restored  it  to  its  simple  greatness.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  is  living  faith  in  the  living  God  who 
has  revealed  himself  in  Jesus  Christ  and  laid  bare 
his  heart — nothing  else.      Objectively  it  is  Jesus 

Christian- 
ity object-  Christ,  subjectively  it  is  faith ;  its  content,  however, 

Subjective-  *s  the  gracious  God,  and  therefore  the  forgiveness  of 
FaithS  sin  which  includes  sonship  and  blessedness.  With- 
in this  circle  the  whole  of  religion  was  enclosed  for 
Luther.  The  living  God — not  the  philosophical  or 
mystical  abstraction — the  revealed,  the  assured,  the 
gracious  God  apprehensible  to  every  Christian.  Un- 
wavering heart  trust  in  him  who  has  given  himself 
to  us  in  Christ  as  our  Father,  personal  confidence 
in  Christ  who  stands  by  his  work  in  our  stead — 
that  was  for  him  the  sum  total  of  religion.  Above 
all  anxiety  and  sorrow,  above  all  the  artifices  of  as- 
ceticism, above  all  prescriptions  of  theology  he  pressed 
on  to  Christ  that  he  might  lay  hold  upon  God  him- 
self, and  in  this  act  of  faith,  which  he  recognized  as 
the  work  of  God,  he  won  an  independence  and  a 
steadfastness,  yes  a  personal  assurance  and  joy,  such 
as  no  mediseval  man  had  ever  possessed.     From  the 


THREE-FOLD  ISSUING  OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    547 

perception :  "  By  our  power  nothing  is  done",  he  drew 

the  highest  inner  freedom.     Faith — that  meant  for     Faith  is 

Assurance 

him  now  no  longer  an  obedient  acceptance  of  eccle-  FoSwe- 
siastical  teaching,  or  historical  facta,  not  supposing 
and  not  doing,  not  actus  initiationis  upon  which  a 
greater  thing  follows ;  but  the  certainty  of  the  for- 
giveness of  sin  and  therefore  personal  and  absolute 
surrender  to  God  as  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  which 
transforms  and  renews  the  whole  man.  Faith  is  a 
conscious  trust,  which  then  makes  man  glad  and 
joyous  toward  God  and  all  creatures,  which  as  a 
good  tree  surely  brings  forth  good  fruit,  and  which 
is  ever  ready  to  serve  and  to  suffer.  The  life  of  a 
Christian  is  in  spite  of  all  evil,  sin  and  guilt  hid  in 

God.     Because  this  certainty  animated  Luther,  he  Luther  Ex- 
periences 

also  experienced  the  freedom  of  a  Christian  man.  Freedom- 
This  freedom  was  not  a  bare  emancipation,  or  a 
certificate  of  manumission,  but  to  him  it  was  the 
triumph  over  the  world  through  the  assurance  that 
when  God  is  for  us  no  one  can  be  against  us.  He 
next  won  for  himself  the  right  of  the  individual ;  he 
experienced  the  freedom  of  conscience.  But  a  free 
conscience  for  him  was  bound  up  with  inner  allegi- 
ance, and  the  right  of  the  individual  he  understood  as 
a  holy  obligation  to  courageously  throw  oneself  upon 
God  and  to  serve  one's  neighbor  in  reality  and  in 
self -forgetful  love. 

Therewith  is  already  said  what  the  Church  was  to  ^u^S, 
him — the   fellowship    of  believers  whom  the   Holy    Believers. 
Spirit  has  called  through  the  word  of  God,  enlight- 


548       OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 


ened  and  sanctified,  who  more  and  more  are  to  be 
built  up  through  the  Gospel  in  true  faith,  awaiting 
the  glorious  future  of  the  children  of  God  and  so 
serving  one  another  in  love,  each  in  his  own  place. 
This  confession  concerning  the  Church  effected  an 
enormous  reduction.  It  rests  wholly  upon  the  fol- 
Funda-     lowing  simple  fundamental  thoughts:    (1)  That  the 

mental 

Church  Holy  Spirit  founded  the  Church  through  the  word 
of  God,  (2)  That  this  word  is  the  proclamation  of 
the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  in  so  far  as  it  awakens 
faith ;  (3)  That  the  Church,  therefore,  has  no  other 
province  than  that  of  faith,  that  it  is,  however,  within 
the  same  the  mother  upon  whose  lap  man  attains 
unto  faith,  (4)  That  because  religion  is  simply  faith 
no  particular  performances  and  no  particular  prov- 
ince, be  it  now  the  open  cultus,  or  the  chosen  course 
of  life,  are  the  sphere  in  which  the  Church  and  the 
individual  can  verify  their  faith,  but  the  Christian 
in  the  natural  ordering  of  his  life  is  to  prove  his  faith 
through  the  loving  service  of  his  fellows. 

With  these  four  sentences  Luther  stood  over 
against  the  old  Church.  Through  the  first  he  re- 
stored the  tvord  of  God  according  to  a  sound  judg- 
ment to  the  fundamental  place  in  the  Church. 
Through  the  second  he  restored,  in  opposition  to  all 
the  theologians,  ascetics  and  sects  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  of  the  ancient  Church,  the  Gospel  to  the 
Gospel  and  exalted  the  "  consolationes  in  Christo 
propositae"  to  be  the  sole  norm.  Through  the  third 
he  reduced  very  greatly  the  idea  and  scope  of  the 


Contends 

Against 

Abuses  in 

Church. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    549 

Church,  but  brought  the  Church  back  to  its  faith. 
Through  the  fourth,  finally,  he  restored  the  natural 
status  of  marriage,  of  the  family,  of  secular  calling 
and  of  the  state;  he  emancipated  these  from  the 
guardianship  of  the  Church,  but  subjected  them  to 
the  spirit  of  faith  and  of  love.  Thereby  he  broke 
down  the  mediaeval  and  ancient  ecclesiastical  concep- 
tion of  the  world  and  of  the  ordering  of  human  life, 

and  thus  transformed  the  idea  of  religious  perfec- 
ts 
tion  as  no  other  Christian  since  the  apostolic  age  has 

done.     In  the  place  of  the  combination  of  monastic  Denounces 

r  Monasti- 

withdrawal  from  the  world  and  ecclesiastical  domin-  cism' 
ion  over  the  world,  he  set  the  Christian  the  great 
task  of  verifying  his  faith  in  the  ordering  of  his 
natural  life :  He  is  to  serve  his  neighbor  in  self -forget- 
ful love  and  hallow  his  occupation.  The  righteous- 
ness of  the  natural  course  of  life  was  in  no  sense  for 
Luther  a  realized  ideal — he  had  eschatological  pre- 
conceptions and  awaited  the  day  when  the  world 
should  pass  away  with  its  lust,  its  pain,  its  devilish- 
ness  and  its  course  of  life — but  because  he  made 
faith  so  grand  and  so  sovereign  he  suffered  for  and 
in  religion  nothing  that  was  foreign  to  it.  Accord- 
ingly through  his  mighty  preaching  all  the  vagaries 
of  the  Middle  As:es  were  dissolved.     He  wished  to     science, 

°  Family, 

teach  the  world  nothing  else  than  what  it  signifies  Sj^t"mee^-' 
to  possess  God;   yet  in  recognizing  this  most  im- 
portant realm  in  its  peculiarity,  everything  else  came 
to  its  true  relations,  viz. :  science,  the  family,  the 
state,  charity,  civil  calling.     In  that  he  raised  to  the 


550       OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

first  rank  that  which  beneath  the  rubbish  of  refined 
and  complicated  ideals  had  hitherto  been  least 
esteemed — humble  and  safe  reliance  upon  God's 
fatherly  provision  and  loyalty  in  one's  calling — he 
created  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

He  who  takes  his  position  here  can  hardly  per- 
suade himself  that  Luther  brought  to  the  old  "  sound" 
dogma  only  a  couple  of  new  doctrines : 

Luther's  theology  should  be  treated  in  close  connection  with 
the  above-mentioned  development  of  his  fundamental  views. 
In  theological  terminology  he  was  surprisingly  unhampered 
and  used  the  doctrinal  formulas  very  freely.  The  traditional 
theological  scheme  he  as  a  rule  treated  so  freely  that  in  each 
instance,  when  correctly  understood,  he  discovered  the  entire 
doctrine.  This  can  be  proven  from  his  doctrine  of  God  (God 
without  and  within  Christ) ,  from  his  doctrine  of  Providence 
(the  first  article,  rightly  understood,  is  the  whole  of  Christen- 
dom) ,  from  his  Christology  ("  Christ  is  not  called  Christ  be- 
cause he  has  two  natures,  but  he  bears  this  glorious  and 
comforting  name  on  account  of  the  office  and  work  which  he 
took  upon  himself ;  Christ  is  the  mirror  of  the  Father's  heart") , 
from  his  doctrine  of  sin  (sin  is  "to  have  no  God"),  from  his 
doctrine  of  predestination  and  of  the  will's  lack  of  freedom 
(religious  experience  does  not  arise  conjointly  out  of  historical 
and  sacramental  acts,  which  God  performs,  and  subjective 
acts,  which  are  in  any  sense  man's,  but  God  alone  works  the 
willing  and  the  doing) ,  from  the  law  and  the  Gospel  (distin- 
guishing between  the  possibility  and  the  reality  of  redemp- 
tion) ,  from  his  doctrine  of  penance  (this  is  the  humility  of  faith, 
hence  the  entire  life  is  a  continuous  penance) ,  from  his  doctrine 
of  justification.  In  each  of  these  doctrines  Luther  expounded 
the  whole— the  free  grace  of  God  in  Christ— but  he  made  himself 
most  at  home  in  the  Pauline  scheme  of  justification  "propter 
Christum  per  ftdem".  The  fine- pointed  formulas  concerning 
the  justitia  imputativa  and  the  scholastic  sundering  of  justifi- 
cation and  sanctification  (faith  and  love)  did  not  originate 
with  him  or  with  the  Melanchthon  of  the  earlier  days  ;  yet  each 
of  these  men  gave  the  provocation  to  the  same.     Everywhere 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOOMA.    551 

he  was  concerned  with  faith '  s  assurance  of  salvation.  "  Where 
there  is  forgiveness  of  sin,  there  is  also  life  and  blessedness". 
In  this  conviction  he  won  his  religious  independence  and  free- 
dom as  against  everything  which  is  not  from  God  ;  for  inde- 
pendence and  freedom  alone  are  life.  The  assurance  of  the 
forgiveness  of  sin  in  Christ  was  to  him  the  sum  of  religion. 
Therefore  did  he  bring  religion  back  to  this.  But  the  positive 
side  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  was  for  him  the  sonship  through 
which  the  Christian  comes  to  a  self-sufficient  existence  as 
over  against  the  world,  needs  nothing  and  stands  neither  under 
the  slavery  of  the  law,  nor  in  dependent  upon  men — a  priest 
before  God  and  a  king  over  the  world. 

3.  Luther* s  Strictures  on  the  Dominating  Ecclesi- 
astical Tradition  and  on  the  Dogma. 

Luther  always  went  from  the  centre  to  the  circum- 
ference in  his  criticism,  from  faith  to  institution, 
and  did  not  attack  doctrines  as  such,  but  doctrines 
which  obscured  or  destroyed  right  living. 

(1)  He  set  aside  the  dominating  doctrine  of  sal-  gjjjjjjg 
vation&s  destructive  (Apol.  IV.  init. :  "  Adversarii,  sSivaUon.f 
quum  nequequid  remissio  peccatorum,  neque  quid 
fides,  neque  quid  gratia,  neque  quid  justitia  sit, 
intelligant,  misere  contaminant  locum  de  justifi- 
catione  et  obscurant  gloriam  et  beneficia  Christi 
et  eripiunt  piis  conscientiis  propositas  in  Christo 
consolationes") ,  and  in  truth  showed  his  opponents 
that  their  doctrine  of  God  (sophistic  philosophy  and 
subtile  reasoning),  their  Christology  (they  speculate 
about  the  two  natures  and  do  not  know  the  beneficia 
Christi),  their  doctrine  concerning  the  truth,  right- 
eousness and  grace  of  God  (they  do  not  attain  unto 
"consolation"  and  hence  err  in  blind  reason),  their 


552      OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

doctrine  of  sin  and  free-will    (they  are  Pelagians), 
of  justification  and  faith  (they  do  not  know  what  it 
means  to  have  a  gracious  God,  and  they  rely  upon 
merits)  and  of  good  works  were  false  and  misleading 
to  the  soul.     With  this  bill  of  particulars  Luther  en- 
countered not  only  the    scholastics,  but    also    the 
Church  fathers,  yes  Augustine  himself,    therefore 
the  whole  ancient  Catholic  Church  teaching, 
oi^catho-       (2)  Luther  attacked  the  old  Catholic  (not  simply 
Perfection,  mediaeval)  ideal  of  perfection  and  of  blessedness. 
In  destroying  the  idea  of  a  dual  morality  to  its  very 
roots  he  put  in  the  place  of  monastic  perfection  the 
faith  which  relies  upon  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  in  the 
place  of  the  conception  of  blessedness  as  a  revelling 
in  holy  sentiment  and  in  holy  knowledge  the  comfort 
of  a  free  conscience  and  sonship  with  God. 
cathoiic         (3)  Luther  destroyed  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the 
sacra-      sacraments,   not  simply  the  seven.     Through  the 

ments. 

three  sentences :  (a)  The  sacraments  contribute  unto 
the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  nothing  else ;  (b)  Sacra- 
menta  non  implentur  dum  fiunt,  sed  dum  credun- 
tur;  (c)  They  are  a  peculiar  form  of  the  redemptive 
word  of  God  (of  the  promissio  dei)  and  therefore 
have  their  virtue  in  the  historical  Christ — lie  trans- 
formed the  sacramental  elements  into  sacramental 
ordinances  and  recognized  in  them  only  one  real 
sacrament,  viz. :  the  pardoning  word  of  God.  He 
AulSstfne.  ^ere  opposed  Augustine  no  less  than  the  scholastics, 
and  in  combining  the  Christus  praedicatus,  the 
forgiveness  of  sin  and  faith  in  the  closest  unity  he 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    553 

excluded  all  else :  Mystical  revelling,  material  good, 
the  opus  operatum,  the  haggling  for  the  sake  of  the 
effect  and  the  dispositions.     Not  as  "  instruments"  God  works 

L  Faith 

of  grace,  which  secretly  prepare  future  life  in  men  T  worfh 
and  by  the  transfusion  of  love  make  good  works  pos- 
sible, did  he  apprehend  the  sacraments,  but  as  the 
verbum  visibile,  in  which  God  himself  co-operates 
with  us  and  gives  himself  to  us  to  be  one  with  him 
in  Christ.  God  works  through  the  word  in  the  sac- 
rament faith  and  confidence,  i.e.  he  works  the  for- 
giveness of  sin.  As  regards  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
baptism  Luther  carried  this  out.  But  he  struck  the 
Catholic  Church  the  severest  blow  by  his  criticism  c£  gaS 
of  the  sacrament  of  penance ;  for  (a)  He  restored  the  penance, 
sovereign  efficacy  of  heart-felt  penitence,  without 
doing  away  with  confessio  and  satisf actio,  if  rightly 
interpreted,  (b)  He  conceived  of  this  penitence  in 
opposition  to  the  attritio,  which  was  to  him  a 
satanic  work,  in  the  strictest  sense  as  hatred  of  sin 
springing  out  of  the  perception  of  the  greatness  of 
the  blessing  which  has  been  forfeited:  "Against 
thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned" ;  (c)  He  promoted  the 
constancy  of  trustful  penitence  and  thereby  ex- 
plained the  penance  done  before  the  priest  as  a  special 
act ;  (d)  He  did  away  with  the  necessity  of  the  priestly 
cooperation;  (e)  He  taught  the  absolute  union  of 
contritio  and  absolutio,  both  of  which  are  included 
in  the  fides;  (f)  He  did  away  with  all  the  mis- 
chief connected  with  the  sacraments :  Computations 
in  regard  to  temporal  and  eternal  benefits,  purga- 


554       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

tory,  worship  of  saints,  meritorious  satisfactions 
and  indulgences,  in  that  he  reduced  everything  to 
eternal  guilt.  Thus  did  he  destroy  the  tree  of  the 
Catholic  Church  by  creating  from  its  roots  light  and 
inclination  and  a  new  impulse. 

Hferarchi-  W)  Luther  destroyed  the  entire  hierarchical  and 
cas>temüy  priestly  ecclesiastical  system,  denied  to  the  Church 
the  right  of  jurisdiction  over  the  key  (i.e.  over 
the  word) ,  declared  the  episcopal  succession  to  be  a 
fiction  and  proclaimed  the  right  of  the  special  priest- 
hood alongside  of  the  general.  In  that  he  left  but 
one  office,  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  to  stand, 
he  dissolved  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  popes  not 
only,  but  also  of  Irenseus. 

with  Tra-y       (5)  Luther  did  away  with  the  traditional  cultus 

ditional 

Cuitus  or-  ordinances  as  regards  their  form,  aim,  content  and 

dinances.  °  7 

significance.  He  would  know  nothing  of  a  specific 
Divine  service,  with  special  priests  and  special  offer- 
ings. He  discarded  the  sacrificial  idea  in  general,  in 
lieu  of  the  one  sufficient  sacrifice  of  Christ.  The 
worship  of  God  is  nothing  else  than  the  simplicity  of 
the  individual's  reverence  for  God  in  time  and  space. 
He  who  attributes  to  it  a  special  merit,  for  the  sake 
of  influencing  God,  commits  sin.  It  has  to  do  only 
with  edification  in  faith  through  the  proclamation  of 
the  Divine  word  and  with  the  general  praise-offering 
of  prayer.  The  true  service  of  God  is  the  Christian 
life  in  reliance  upon  God,  penitence  and  faith,  humil- 
ity and  fidelity  in  duty.  Unto  this  service  of  God 
the  public  service  should  contribute.     Here  also  he 


lcism. 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING   OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    555 

shattered  the  Church,  not  only  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
but  also  of  the  ancients. 

(6)  Luther  destroyed  the  formal  external  author-    Destroys 

External 

ities  of  Catholicism;  he  did  away  with  the  distinc-  ofUcathoT- 
tion  between  thing  and  authority.  Because  to  him 
the  proclaimed  Christ  (God  in  Christ,  God's  word) 
was  the  thing  and  the  authority,  he  cast  the  formal 
authorities  overboard.  Even  before  the  letter  of 
Scripture  he  did  not  hesitate.  During  the  very  time 
when  he  was  contending  against  the  absolute  author- 
ity of  tradition,  of  the  pope  and  of  the  councils,  he 
set  that  which  Christ  did  over  against  the  clear 
letter  of  Scripture  and  did  not  shrink  from  speaking 
of  errors  in  the  Biblical  writers  in  matters  of  faith. 

(7)  Luther  conceded  to  his  opponents  their  dog-   Dognfauc 

matic   terminology  only  so  far  as  he  did  not  dis-     ogy  Mis- 
leading. 

card  it.  He  had  the  liveliest  feeling  that  the  whole 
terminology  was  at  least  misleading.  This  can  be 
proven  from  his  expositions  (a)  of  the  various  con- 
ceptions of  justification  sanctificatio,  vivificatio, 
regenerato,  etc.,  (b)  of  the  conception  satisf ac- 
tio, (c)  ecclesia,  (d)  sacramenta,  (e)  homousion, 
(f)  trinitas  and  unit  as.  The  terminology  of  the 
scholastics  he  declared  to  be  false,  that  of  the  old 
Catholic  theologians  to  be  unprofitable  and  cold. 
But  the  most  important  is  that  he  distinguished  in 
the  doctrine  of  God  and  in  Christology  between  that 
which  pertains  to  us  and  that  which  pertains  to  the 
thing  itself,  thereby  clearly  indicating  what  the  doc- 
trine of  faith  really  is  and  what  is  a  matter  of 


Declares 


556       OUTLINES  OE  THE  HISTORY  OP  DOGMA. 

speculative    reason,    or  at  best  the  indemonstrable 
secret  of  faith. 


ctolSK  Luther  did  away  with  the  old  dogmatic  Christian- 
C1jtyStby1"  ity  and  put  a  new  evangelical  conception  in  its  place, 
geiicai.  The  Reformation  is  in  reality  an  exit  of  the  history  of 
dogma :  This  the  foregoing  survey  teaches  clearly  and 
explicitly.  That  which  Augustine  began,  but  was 
not  able  to  realize,  Luther  carried  through.  He  estab- 
lished the  evangelical  faith  in  the  place  of  the  dogma 
by  doing  away  with  the  dualism  of  dogmatic  Chris- 
tendom and  practical  Christian  self- judgment  and 
independence,  and  thus  freed  Christian  faith  from 
the  trammels  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  of  secular 
knowledge,  of  heathen  ceremonies  and  cunning  mo- 
rality. The  doctrine  of  faith,  the  true  doctrine, 
he  restored  to  its  sovereign  right  in  the  Church — 
to  the  terror  of  the  humanists,  ecclesiastics,  Fran- 
ciscans and  rationalists  (Aufklärer) .  The  true  the- 
ology should  have  the  deciding  power  in  the  Church. 

Inr£skf  •But  wtiat  a  task  J  -^  appeared  still  almost  like  a 
contradiction :  To  restore  the  significance  of  faith  as 
the  content  of  revelation  to  its  central  position  as 
against  all  subtile  reasoning  and  doing,  and  thus  to 
call  out  the  repressed  theoretical  element ;  and  still, 
on  the  other  hand,  not  simply  to  take  that  faith 
which  the  past  has  constructed,  but  rather  to  indi- 
cate the  form  in  which  it  is  life  and  creates  life,  is 
practice  yet  the   practice   of    religion.     From   the 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    557 

greatness  of  the  problem  is  explained  also  the  insolv- 
ency of  those  elements  in  Luther's  theology  which 
perverted  the  same  and  must  qualify  the  declaration, 
that  the  Reformation  was  the  end  of  the  history  of 
dogma. 


Faith  Op- 
posed to 
Works. 


4.  The  Catholic  Elements  Retained  with  and 
within  Luther's  Christianity. 

However  much  or  however  little  Luther  here  re- 
tained— it  belongs  indeed  to  the  "entire  Luther", 
but  not  to  the  "  entire  Christianity"  of  Luther.  How 
was  Luther  able  to  retain  Catholic  elements,  and 
what  elements  did  he  conserve?  Of  these  two  ques- 
tions, which  should  be  answered,  the  first  has  already 
been  answered  in  part  (see  p.  543) ;  only  a  few  things 
need  to  be  added  here. 

(1)  Luther  defended  faith  as  against  the  corre- 
sponding works,  the  doctrina  evangelii  as  against 
justifying  penances  and  processes.  Hence  he  stood 
in  danger  of  adopting  or  of  tolerating  every  state- 
ment of  faith,  if  only  it  seemed  free  from  law  and 
works.  He  fell  into  this  pitfall.  His  idea  of 
the  Church  was  perverted  thereby.  It  became  as 
ambiguous  as  the  idea  of  the  doctrina  evangelii 
(fellowship  of  faith,  fellowship  of  pure  doctrine) . — {'I) 
Luther  thought  in  general  only  of  contending  against 
the  doctrinal  errors  and  abuses  of  the  mediaeval 
Church,  and  since  he  traced  all  misfortunes  to  the 
pope,  he  formed  too  high  an  estimate  of  the  ante-  imorantof 

r   r  '  °  Old  Catho 

papal  ancient  Church.— (3)    Luther  knew  the  old  UcChureh 


Chief 
Attack 
Against 
Popes. 


558       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

Catholic  Church  very  slightly  and  ascribed  to  its 

decisions  in  an  obscure  manner  still  a  certain  author- 

caiied^    ity. — (4)  Luther  always  reckoned  himself  and  his 

catholic.    un(jertaking  as  within  the   one   Catholic   Church, 

claimed  that  this  Church  gave  him  the  title-right  to 

his  Reformation,  and  hence  he  had  a  lively  interest 

in  proving  the  continuity  of  its  faith.     This  proof 

seemed    most   securely    supjftied   in   the   old    faith 

Not  a      formulas. — (5)  Luther  was  no  systematic  theologian, 

logian      but  romped  in  the  Church  like  a  child  at  home ;  he 

had  no  longing  after  the  holiness  of  a  well-ordered 

doctrinal  structure ;  but  his  power  was  likewise  his 

weakness. — (6)  Luther  was  able  to  express  his  entire 

Christianity  within  the   scheme  of  the  traditional 

doctrines,  and  hence  he  was  at  peace  with  the  old 

"press0 ms"  formulas. — (7)  Luther  was  in  concreto — not  inten- 

Tmditionai  tionally — a  mediaeval  exegete;  he  found  therefore 

Doctrines. 

many  traditional  doctrines  in  the  Scriptures,  although 
they  are  not  contained  therein.  As  regards  history 
he  had  in  truth  intuitive  perception,  but  he  developed 
no  method. — (8)  His  perception  of  the  essence  of  the 
word  of  God  did  not  entirely  destroy  his  Biblicism, 
but  rather  did  this  return  after  1523  more  strongly. 
That  "  it  stands  written",  remained  to  him  a  power, 
ments  stm  — (9)  Also  as  regards  the  sacraments  there  remained 

Means  of  mi 

Grace,  tor  him  still  therein  a  superstitio  as  "means  of 
grace  "  (instead  as  the  one  grace) ,  and  this  had  the 
weightiest  consequences  for  his  doctrinal  work. — 
(10)  He  was  unable  to  rid  himself  of  remnants  of  the 
nominalistic  scholasticism,  and  these  influenced  his 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    559 

doctrine  of  God,  of  predestination  and  of  the  sacra- 
ments.— (11)  After  that  he  had  learned  wisdom  in  Distrustfui 
his  struggle  with  fanatics,  he  was  distrustful  of  the  Reason- 
reason,  and  went  far  beyond  distrust  to  antagonism 
against  it  as  a  prop  of  self-righteousness.  He  in 
truth  hardened  himself  against  reason  in  clever  con- 
fidence, and  retrograded  at  several  important  points 
of  questionable  Catholic  belief  which  recognized  the 
Divine  wisdom  in  paradoxes  and  absurdities,  before 
which  man  must  bow.  Especially  his  haughty  re- 
pulsion of  the  "enthusiasts",  who  possessed  true  in- 
sight into  not  a  few  points,  and  his  aversion  to  ad- 
vancing along  with  secular  civilization  struck  the 
Reformation  its  severest  blows. 

The  consequence  of  this  conduct  was  that  so  far     Luther's 

System 

as  Luther  left  a  system  of  theology  to  his  adherents  FinJJit^ 
it  appeared  as  a  highly  confused  and  unsatisfactory 
picture :  Not  as  a  new  building,  but  as  a  modification 
of  the  traditional  structure.  Accordingly  it  is  clear 
(according  to  Sec.  3)  that  Luther  introduced  no 
finality,  but  only  made  a  partial  beginning  of  a 
reformation  even  according  to  his  oivn  principles. 
The  following  are  the  most  important  confusions  and 
problems  in  his  legacy : 

(1)   The  confounding  of  the  Gospel  and  the  doc-  CoGn0fs0,Sds 
trina  evangelii.     Luther  in  truth  never  ceased  to     Doctrina 

Evangelii. 

consider  the  articuli  fidei  as  a  manifold  testimony 
to  that  with  which  the  Christian  faith  is  alone 
concerned ;  yet  along  with  this  he  gave  the  same  still 
a  value  of  its  own.     Accordingly  the   intellectual- 


560      OUTLINES   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

ity  of  scholasticism,  so  burdensome  to  faith,    was 
not  rooted  out ;  rather  did  it  soon  become,  under  the 
title  of  pure  doctrine,  a  fearful  power  and  the  Church 
became  a  theologians'  and  pastors'  Church  (cf.  the 
history  of  the  confessional  in  the  Lutheran  church) . 
The  consequence  was  that  Catholic  mysticism  again 
crept  in  to  counterbalance  Luther's  peculiar  teaching 
(especially  that  of  justification)  and  the  evangelical 
ideal  of  life  was  beclouded  (see  Ritschi,  Gesch.  des 
Pietismus,  3  Bde.).     Thus  to  the  future,  instead  of 
a  clear  and  simple  bequest  as  regards  faith,  doctrine 
and  the  Church,  was  rather  left  a  problem,  viz. :  To 
maintain  the  "  teaching"  in  the  true  Lutheran  sense, 
and  yet  to  free  it  above  all  from  everything  which 
cannot  be  appropriated   through    spiritual   submis- 
sion, and  to  stamp  the  Church  as  the  fellowship  of 
faith,  without  giving  it  the  character  of  a  theolog- 
ical school. 
c°Evan-nds       (2)  The  confounding  of  evangelical  faith  and 
Fafthaid    the  old  dogma.     Since  Luther  expressed  his  new  re- 
Dogma,     demptive  faith  in  the  language  of  the  old  dogma,  it 
was  not  possible  to  prevent  the  latter  from  asserting 
its  old  claims  and  its  old  aims, — yes,  he  himself  fur- 
ther developed  the  same  within  the  original  scheme  of 
Christology,  viz.,  in  his  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per.    In  that  he  however  poured  the  new  wine  into 
the  old  wine-skins,  there  arose  a  speculation  regard- 
ing the  ubiquity  of  the  body  of  Christ  which  ranged 
over  the  loftiest  heights  of  scholastic  inconsistency. 
The  sad  consequence  was  that  Lutheranism  imme- 


THREE-FOLD  ISSUING  OF   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    5G1 

diately  maintained  as  nota  ecclesiae  the  most  ex-       Nota 

Ecclesiae. 

treme  scholastic  teaching  which  any  Church  has 
ever  maintained.  This  fact  is  not  strange;  for  how- 
can  one  without  absurdity  include  within  the  scheme 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  two  natures  the  faith-idea  that 
the  man  Jesus  Christ  is  the  revelation  of  God  himself, 
in  so  far  as  God  has  given  us  in  him  to  know  his  own 
fatherly  heart,  laying  it  bare  to  us?  Even  because 
Luther  first  really  made  earnest  work  with  faith  in  the 
God-man  (the  oneness  of  God  and  man  in  Christ) , 
must  the  ßerdßa<ri$  to  the  speculation  regarding  the 
"natures"  have  the  most  distressing  consequences. 
The  same  can  be  shown  as  regards  the  reception  of  the     Empim- 

0  ■"■  sizes 

Augustinian  doctrine  of  the  original  state  and  of  orig-  Paradoxes- 
inal  sin.  Here  also  Luther  could  only  increase  the 
paradoxes  and  absurdities,  in  that  he  sought  to  express 
in  these  formulas  his  evangelical  conviction  that  all 
sin  is  godlessness  and  guilt.  Everywhere  it  is  plain 
that  when  the  evangelical  faith  is  thrust  into  the 
dogmatico-rational  scheme  which  the  Greeks,  Au- 
gustine and  the  scholastics  created,  it  leads  to  bizarre 
formulas, — yes,  first  makes  this  scheme  wholly  irra- 
tional. Therefore  the  Reformation  of  the  future 
has  the  task  of  doing  away  with  this  cosmo-theistic 
philosophy  and  of  putting  in  its  place  the  simple  ex- 
pression of  faith,  the  true  self -judgment  in  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  and  the  real  import  of  history. 

(3)  The  confounding  of  the  ivord  of  God  and  the  c°^™ °(J8 
Sacred  Scriptures.     Luther,  as  has  been  remarked,    and  Bible. 

never  overcame  his  wavering  between  a  qualitative 
36 


562      OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

and  a  literal  estimate  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the 
controversy  regarding  the  Lord's  Supper  only  con- 
firmed him  in  the  latter  view.  He  had  not  yet  broken 
the  bondage  of  the  letter.  Thus  it  happened  that  his 
church  arrived  at  the  most  stringent  doctrine  of  in- 
spiration, while  it  never  quite  forgot  that  the  content 
of  the  Gospel  is  not  everything  that  is  contained  be- 
tween the  lids  of  the  Bible,  but  that  it  is  the  procla- 
mation of  the  free  grace  of  God  in  Christ.  Here  also 
remains  to  the  Church  of  the  Reformation  the  task  of 
dealing  earnestly  with  the  Christianity  of  Luther 
as  against  the  "entire  Luther", 
confounds  (4)  The  confounding  of  grace  and  the  means  of 
aofdGracaens  grace  (sacraments).  The  firm  and  exclusive  con- 
ception which  Luther  formed  of  God,  Christ,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  word  of  God,  faith,  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  and  justification  (grace)  is  his  greatest  service, 
above  all  the  recognition  of  the  inseparableness  of 
the  Spirit  and  the  word.  But  by  an  apparently 
slight  modification  he  arrived  at  very  doubtful  con- 
clusions, in  that  he  finally  transferred  that  which 
pertains  to  the  word  (Christ,  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel)  to  the  idea  "  vocale  verbum  et  sacr amenta  ". 
Rightly  did  he  contend  that  Christ  himself  works 
through  the  word  and  that  one  is  not  to  accept  an  out- 
ward union  of  word  and  Spirit,  sign  and  thing  sig- 
nified. But  not  only  by  the  setting  apart  of  certain 
^leSai3  ordinances  and  "  means  of  grace"  did  he  return  to  the 
narrow  circle  of  the  Middle  Ages  which  he  had  for- 
saken— the  Christian  lives,  as  he  himself  best  knew, 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    563 

not  by  means  of  grace,  but  by  personal  communion 
with  God,  whom  he  lays  hold  of  in  Christ, — but 
in  still  greater  measure  by  the  effort,  (A)  To  justify 
infant  baptism  as  a  means  of  grace  in  the  strictest 
sense,  (B)  To  accept  penance  still  also  as  the  means 
of  grace  in  the  initiation,  (C)  To  maintain  the  real 
presence  of  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist  as 
the  essential  element  of  the  sacrament. 

Note  on  (A) .     The  forgiveness  of  sin  (grace)  and     Justifies 

v  °  \o  J  Baptism 

faith  being  inseparably  united,  infant  baptism  is  J$[Soi 
then  not  a  sacrament  in  the  strict  sense  ("  abseilte 
fide  baptismus  nudum  et  inejficax  Signum  tantum- 
modo  permanet" ,  says  Luther  himself  in  his  Larger 
Catechism).  In  order  to  avoid  this  conclusion, 
Luther  resorted  to  subterfuges  which  mark  a  relapse 
into  Catholicism  (fides  implicita,  substitutional 
faith) .  The  worst  of  it  was  that  he  granted  the  per- 
mission— in  order  to  preserve  infant  baptism  as  a 
complete  sacrament — to  separate  regeneration  and 
justification  (objective  and  subjective) .  Infant  bap- 
tism thus  became  a  sacrament  of  justification  (not 
of  regeneration) ;  the  worst  confusion  set  in  and  that 
glorious  jewel  of  evangelical  Christianity,  justi- 
fication ,  became  externalized  and  hastened  to  be- 
come a  dogmatic  locus  along  with  the  others  and 
lost  its  practical  significance. 

Note  on  (B).     Faith  and  true  penitence  are  accord-  j£ggS?m 
ing  to  Luther  one,  yet  so  that  faith  is  prius:  In  so    0f  Grace. 
far  as  the  Christian  lives  continually  in  faith,  he 
lives  continually   in  penitence;    special  penitential 


564       OUTLINES   OF  THE   HISTORY   OF  DOGMA. 

acts  have  no  value,  and  without  true  faith  there  is 
absolutely  no  true  penitence.  Thus  Luther  preached 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  believing  Christian.  The 
danger  that  this  doctrine  might  lead  to  ethical  laxity 
is  quite  as  clear  as  the  other  danger,  that  thereby 
one  could  convert  no  Turks,  Jews,  or  vile  sinners. 
Melanchthon  first,  then  Luther  felt  this.  But  in- 
stead of  distinguishing  between  pedagogical  mis- 
sionary principles  and  the  statement  of  faith,  they — 
because  the  Catholic  sacrament  of  penance  still  influ- 
enced them — carried  the  former  over  into  the  latter, 
and  accordingly  encouraged  an  ante-faith  penitence, 
which  could  no  longer  be  distinguished  from  the 
attritio,  and  then  permitted  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance (without  obligatory  oral  confession  and  satis- 
factions) to  enter  as  an  act  of  forensic  justification. 
True,  Luther  along  with  this  always  retained  his 
coSnfe&-s  old  correct  view;  but  the  idea,  when  once  al- 
lowed  entrance,  developed  with  frightful  rapidity 
and  created  a  practice,  which  was  worse,  because  it 
was  more  lax,  than  the  Romish  confessional  (see 
the  reaction  of  pietism) .  In  it  the  idea  of  faith  was 
externalized,  even  to  mere  attendance  upon  Church ; 
the  old  accepted  efficacious  means  of  grace  ex  opere 
operato  came  to  the  front  very  slightly  decked,  and 
the  justification  of  the  sinner  was  jumbled  into  an 
outer  forensic  act,  a  conscience-soothing  Divine  judg- 
ment, which  crept  in  inevitably  when  the  priest  ab- 
solved the  sinner  in  foro.  In  order  to  repress 
frivolity,  the  back-door  of    the  Catholic  idea  was 


Restores 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY  OF  DOGMA.    565 

opened,  and  the  frivolity  now  first  became  great! 
The  thought,  however,  that  justification  is  the  sphere 
and  the  edification  of  the  Christian  was  hopelessly- 
obscured;  it  passed  now  only  as  the  justificatio 
impii.  Therefore  must  the  pious  look  about  for  a 
new  means  of  edification,  if  now  his  justification 
is  only  a  (repetitious)  "objective"  initiation  act. 
Here  lies  to-day  still  the  fundamental  curse. 

Note  on  (C).  Numberless  times  did  Luther  recog-  MaiR^jns 
nize  that  one  may  seek  in  the  word  and  in  the  sac-  Eucharist!! 
rament  only  for  the  assurance  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sin,  and  with  "  grim  contempt"  did  he  reject  every- 
thing which  men  then  made  dependent  upon  the  sac- 
rament. He  also  never  surrendered  this  convic- 
tion, which  does  not  alloiv  the  question  concerning 
the  body  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist  to  crop  out  as 
a  theological  question  at  all.  But  when  he  saw 
that  first  Karlstadt,  then  Zwingli  and  others  per-  *£*)&& 
mitted  the  sign  and  the  thing  signified  to  be  sepa- 
rated and  thus  endangered  the  certainty  of  the  for- 
giveness of  sin  in  the  sacrament,  he  sought,  influenced 
likewise  by  mediseval  tradition,  to  securely  establish 
the  latter  by  laying  hold  of  the  real  presence  in  the 
sacrament,  and  he  defended  this  with  increasing 
temper  and  complete  stubbornness  as  though  the 
question  was  as  to  the  reality  or  non-reality  of 
the  forgiveness  of  sin.  One  can  understand  Luther's 
position  in  the  controversy  only  when  one  recognizes 
this  quid  pro  quo,  and  when  one  further  realizes  that 
Luther  instinctively  sought  for  a  means  of  ridding 


560       OUTLINES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  DOGMA. 

himself  of  spirits  who  crowded  about  him  and  to 
whom  in  true  self -protection — in  the  interest  of  his 
evangelical  perception  and  of  his  standing  as  a  re- 
former— he  could  not  extend  the  hand.     But  the 

Bibilcfem.  thing  had  its  own  logic.  While  contending  in  the 
name  of  faith  for  the  one  point,  the  real  presence, 
which  did  not  express  the  nature  and  peculiarity  of 
his  own  faith,  all  the  mediaeval  interests  in  him 
were  aroused  which  seemed  to  have  been  over- 
come. Here  awakened  Biblicism  ("  est",  "  est" ),  here 
scholastic  doctrinarianism  in  the  place  of  the  fides 
sola,  here  a  perverse  interest  in  sophistical  specula- 
tions, here  an  unheard-of  regard  for  the  sacrament 
alongside  of  and  above  the  word,  here  a  leaning 
toward  the  opus  operatum,  and  above  all  a  narrow- 
hearted  and  loveless  temper!  As  regards  the 
statement  of  the  doctrine  itself,  it  could  not  fail 
to  be  more  paradoxical  than  the  Catholic.  Transub- 
stantiation  was  not  recognized,  but  the  hypothetical 

Revives     declaration  of  Occam  and  other  nominalists,  that  in 

Occam's  ' 

view.  one  an(j  ^e  same  Space  (with,  by,  and  beneath)  the 
visible  elements  and  the  true  body  of  Christ  are  en- 
closed. The  same  man  who  earlier  had  derided  the 
scholastics  now  explained :  "  The  sophists  speak  cor- 
rectly here",  supplied  his  Church  with  a  Christology 
which  in  scholastic  inconsistency  far  exceeds  the 
Thomistic  (ubiquity  of  the  body  of  Christ),  eliminated 
faith  from  the  sacrament  so  completely  that  he  raised 
the  doctrine  of  the  manducatio  infidelium  to  the 
articulus  stantis  et  cadentis  ecclesiae  ("  the  body 


THREE-FOLD   ISSUING  OF  HISTORY   OF  DOGMA.    567 

of  Christ  is  bitten  by  the  teeth")  and  trumped  the  ir- 
rationality of  the  doctrine  as  a  stamp  of  its  Divine 
truth. 

Through  the  form  which  Luther  gave  to  the  doc-     Luther's 

Weakness 

trine  of  the  eucharist  he  is  partially  to  blame  that  the 
later  Lutheran  church  in  its  Christology,  in  its  doc- 
trine of  the  sacraments,  in  its  doctrinarianism  and  in 
the  false  standard  by  which  it  measures  departures  in 
doctrine  and  proclaims  them  heretical,  threatens  to 
become  a  scrawny  twin  of  the  Catholic  Church;  for 
Catholicism  is  not  the  pope,  nor  the  worship  of  the 
saints,  nor  the  mass — these  are  consequences, — but 
the  false  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  of  penance,  of 
faith  and  of  authority  in  matters  of  faith. 

The  form  which  the  churches  of  the  Reformation     Luther's 

Strength. 

took  in  the  16th  century,  was  not  homogeneous,  or 
definite :  This  the  history  of  Protestantism  indicates 
even  to  this  day.  Luther  once  more  lifted  the  Gos- 
pel, placed  it  upon  the  lamp-stand  and  subordinated 
dogma  to  it.  It  now  remains  to  hold  fast  to  and 
carry  forward  that  which  he  began. 

Gott   schenke  uns   nur    ein    festes   Herz,  Muth, 
Demuth  und  Geduld ! 


FINIS. 


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